Umwalimu Sacco, a teachers’ savings and credit cooperative, will give out more than Rwf36 billion in loans during the 2013- 2014 fiscal year. Jean Marie Vianney Nzagahimana, the cooperative’s board chair, said yesterday that in addition to government support, the cooperative’s earnings will enable it to comfortably give out the loans. He was addressing the media shortly after the cooperative’s general assembly in Kigali.  "Last year, we gave out about Rwf24 billion, but still we found that more teachers needed loans, and this is the reason we are gradually pushing the amount to increase in number of beneficiaries every financial year,” Nzagahimana said. He said given the demand for loans by the teachers, the cooperative is coming up with various mechanisms to ensure that it further simplifies the process. Among others, he said that effective next year, changes will be made to ease the process of accessing loans by members and, among these, members will be able to process and access their loans from the cooperative’s branches. "Currently, our branches have no right to give out a loan above Rwf8 million, which was an inconvenience for our members. But now it will only be loans from Rwf20 million which will require approval by a committee of the credit department,” Nzagahimana said. Umwalimu Sacco started with giving teachers loans of up to Rwf3 million, but because of its continued growth, this ceiling was lifted to Rwf15 million before the cooperative scrapped the ceiling altogether. Currently, teachers access loans based on ability to pay. Tax exemptionMeanwhile, the cooperative says it deserves another five years of tax exemption, arguing that this is the period after which it will be able to pay the taxes without disrupting its operations. Recently, the Sacco’s top management met with Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) officials over the issue. According to Nzagahimana, a cooperative is tax exempted for five years from the time it starts operation and there is a possibility to extend the waiver for another five years.However, for a cooperative to have the five additional years of tax exemption, there are conditions that have to be met.  Among others, the cooperative loan book should indicate that at least 15 per cent of the loans given out are channeled into agriculture, while the non performing loans must be at less than 5 per cent.  "When we met RRA officials, we had not fulfilled the two requirements, so this year, we will pay taxes; but currently, the non performing loans are as required,” he said.