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Cultivate saving culture-Kikwete
2007-05-03 09:18:46
By Guardian Reporter
President Jakaya Kikwete has encouraged Tanzanians to cultivate a saving culture in order to gain easy access to loans for business from commercial banks.
The president made the remarks in Mwanza yesterday after opening an Azania Bank branch.
Kikwete assured banks in the country that they can do businesses by targeting small and medium clients.
He said experience gained through the government channeling loans through banks has shown that small businesspeople are good at repaying loans.
``Small and medium-scale entrepreneurs are determined to do away with poverty; that`s why they are good at repaying loans,`` he said.
President Kikwete, who is on a tour of Mwanza Region, commended Azania Bank for targeting small and medium-scale entrepreneurs.
The bank`s board chairman, Dr Ramadhan Dau, advised the government to give priority to SMEs in purchasing government shares and improve the infrastructure in order to help them reduce production costs.
Dr. Dau, who is also the director general of the National Social Security Fund, said 72 per cent of loans worth 36.6bn/- were issued direct to SMEs last year.
The bank’s Executive Director, Charles Singili, challenged other banks in the country to provide training to the people on its services in order to enable them gain access to loans.
``54 per cent of people in the country lack accessibility to loans because they don`t have enough knowledge about the services availed by banks,`` he said.
The Mwanza branch is Azania Bank`s first branch to be opened up-country.
The bank was established in 1995 with a capital of 708.7m/-, which currently stands at 7.039bn/-.
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