Only 11% access banking services

Government has plans to expand access to credit and financial services to the whole population across the country in both urban and rural areas. Only 11 percent of Rwanda has access to commercial banking services, according to information provided by a government official. According to Francois Xavier Ngarambe, Executive Secretary of Financial Sector Development Programme in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, 20 percent access micro-finance institutions. “the Financial sector in Rwanda is very dynamic like a brilliant child, small but growing so fast and in very organised manner,” said Ngarambe. The industry has 8 percent of non performing loans of which according to Ngarambe is an international standard to measure a well performing financial sector. Statistic also show that the figure moved from 40 percent during 1994 to late 2000. A loan is non-performing when payments of interest and principal are due by 90 days or more. Ngarambe’s department aims to develop the banking sector, microfinance and increase access to credit, long-term finance, contractual savings (insurance and pension) and payment systems with a target to transform Rwanda into a middle-income country by the year 2020. Government has plans to expand access to credit and financial services to the whole population across the country in both urban and rural areas. “People don’t access physically those services and are not motivated to take an extra step to the area of coverage because they incur a lot of expenses,” he said. The services are limited in terms of coverage, infrastructure, electricity and Information Technology and Communication coverage (ICT). Strategies are in place to enhancing the savings culture through cooperatives especially long-term savings that can be channelled into long-term capital for productive investments. Future plans Among the strategies to address the challenge include increasing the coverage by strengthening MFIs, provide land titles as one of the collaterals to low income earners and encouraging people to be grouped in cooperatives whereby a certificate will be given indicating how many tonnes the person owns in a cooperative and it would be presented in a bank to access loans. Good plans in placeCreate awareness on the national rural insurance strategy that aims to increase rural sector access to financial services. The strategy involves life insurance, health insurance and agriculture insurance. Special credit fund in which the government injects Rwf2 billion in Rwanda Development bank at an interest rate of 6 percent to increase on MFI’s liquidity and have the capacity to lend. Local banks venturing with international banks. “It’s a positive move to our banks because they bring expertise and capital which increases the financial base of the local banks,” said Ngarambe. Ends