The Student Financing Agency for Rwanda (SFAR) has collected Rwf 1.2 billion against a set target of Rwf1.1 billion for the mid-year, in the loan recovery scheme. This was revealed yesterday by the SFAR Director of Loan Recovery, Desire Gacinya, in an interview with The New Times. It was possible to hit the target as a result of proper salary deductions of those that owe the agency and consistent transfers of the collections to the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) by commercial banks. 2422 employees in 139 institutions have managed to pay their monthly contributions and this will enable us support about 23,000 students who are sponsored within and outside the country.” “Our collection points in Fina Bank, CogeBaque and the Commercial Bank of Rwanda also transfer the recovered money to the BNR on time, a system which allows us to know the available amount and plan accordingly,” Gacinya explained. He noted that about 3037 other people in various institutions have been notified to pay back what they owe, but are not responding as expected. “It is the duty of their institutions to deduct 8 percent off the contributor’s basic salary. Apparently we have sent out our loan inspectors to remind some employees about this but if they continue not to respond, then we will be forced to implement tougher loan recovery procedures,” he warned. The biggest percentage of SFAR’s budget is financed by the government. This year alone, Rwf10 billion was drawn to facilitate sponsored students. SFAR was established by Cabinet on July 29, 2003 as an autonomous agency under the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Scientific Research (MINEDUC) to oversee loan disbursements and ensure that those who get the loans pay back. The agency recovered Rwf1billion by end of April.The agency expects the figure to double by the end of the year. Ends
