Deposits for Umurenge SACCO, a government initiated community microfinance programme, have now accumulated to around Rwf 29 billion.In an interview with The New Times, on Thursday, the Deputy Director General of the Rwanda Cooperative Agency (RCA), Gilbert Habyarimana, said the progress is due to the mobilisation of the general population to develop a savings culture with Umurenge saccos countrywide. "Umurenge SACCO programme was set up in 2009 and its mission is to strengthen the financial sector through enabling the general population to have easy access to finance and I believe that this will enable our country to achieve economic growth and sustainable development,” Habyarimana explainedAccording to the official, over 1.5 million Rwandans have so far registered with the programme, adding that over 1.2 million of them have already opened accounts with the Saccos from their respective areas.Habyarimana noted that the programme had deposits worth around Rwf 10 billion in the first quarter of last year and had registered about 800,000 members countrywide by last year. He said the share capital for all saccos has now exceeded over Rwf 5 billion, adding that the microfinance programme has so far extended loans worth over Rwf 15 billion to its members and that theys had not defaulted in loan repayments.According to Habyarimana, the interest rates stand at between 1.5 to 2.5 percent per month, observing that the rates are favourable compared to those charged by commercial banks.He noted that the government has completed the distribution of computers and printers to every sacco countrywide to help them operate effectively and efficiently to enhance their performance.Habyarimana further said his institution had carried out various training programmes among sacco staff to improve their financial skills. He noted it had also rolled out a  campaign to sensitise the population about the importance of the cooperatives to encourage more people to join the scheme."This microfinance programme has been facing various challenges, especially lack of infrastructure, but now about 80 of them have already constructed their offices using their own financial means and we hope by the end of next year, all saccos will have completed building their offices,” he said.There are a total of 416 saccos countrywide. According to Habyarimana, only  63 saccos were in place prior to the establishment of the general sacco programme."Speaking to The New Times, the Manager of Umurenge Sacco in Rutunga Sector, Gasabo District, Jean Marie Herbert Ayimana, said its establishment has had a positive impact."Residents of Rutunga sector used to be totally isolated and walked long distances to reach the nearest bank. But after setting up our sacco, this problem has been solved and the residents have been able to deposit and withdraw money at their own convenient time and this has totally transformed their lives, socially and economically.”He said the saccos were better than other microfinance institutions since the decisions on how to run them are taken by members.The government allocated Rwf 2.7 billion in the 2011/2012 budget to make the scheme more progressive in addition to the recruitment of 60 staff to monitor and audit saccos.