Browsing: loans

• The World Bank Group has suspended new loans to Uganda in response to the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act.
• Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ law, with its provisions carrying the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” is sparking global concern.
• The World Bank provided $5.4 billion in International Development Association financing to Uganda by the end of 2022.

In a significant move, the World Bank announced on Tuesday its decision to suspend new lending to the Ugandan government. This decision comes in response to the Ugandan government’s enactment of an anti-LGBTQ law. The law is still garnering widespread condemnation from numerous countries and international organizations, including the United Nations. The bank’s stance is rooted in the belief that this law directly contradicts its core values and principles.

The World Bank’s social standards

Promptly after the anti-LGBTQ law was implemented in May, a World Bank team embarked on a fact-finding mission to Uganda. The team’s assessment concluded …

• Demand for credit remains high from financially-stressed consumers.
• Banks and lending institutions had emerged as crucial players in Kenya’s recovery journey.
• According to the Central Bank of Kenya, the NPL rate stood at 14.0% at the end of June.

A new report now indicates that the Covid-19 pandemic is continuing to have an impact on the Kenyan credit market, with banks and lending institutions having to adjust their operations to the current economic climate.

Although demand for credit remains high from financially-stressed consumers, the latest TransUnion Q2 2021 Kenya Market Analytics Report shows a decline in the number of active accounts, clients and new accounts opened compared to the previous quarter.

Ongoing consumer demand for credit saw the value of new loans disbursed during the second quarter increase by 2.5% from the first quarter, from Sh486.6 billion to Sh499.0 billion.

This was driven largely by growing demand for the M-Pesa …

Banks in East Africa are empathizing with the loss of livelihood and businesses of their clients by easing off on loan payment demands as the covid-19 pandemic continues to disrupt economies.

In 2020, top East African banks increased provisions for bad debts by over $736 million so as to reduce exposure on businesses and household loans in countries that are most affected by the pandemic.

According to a review of the banks audited financial statements, in 2019 the top eight Kenyan banks by market share tripled their loan loss provisions to $960 million from $263.11 million.

In order to take care of $1.56 billion worth of loans that had been restructured to bail out clients who were most affected by the pandemic, equity bank increased its loan loss provision by $198.6 million making it the greatest hit on its net earnings that the bank has ever experienced. This led the …

The African Development Fund (ADF) which is a concessional arm of the African Development Bank Group (AFDB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a loan agreement worth $668.1 million (73.6 billion Japanese yen) which will help finance Africa’s low-income countries affected by the pandemic.

The loan will help support the 15th replenishment of the African Development Fund (ADF-15) which was approved in December 2019 by ADF donor countries. JICA is extending the loan – the largest to ADF-15 on behalf of the Government of Japan. Japan has been the fifth-largest contributor to the ADF in cumulative terms.

African Development Bank Group President Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina and Kuramitsu Hideaki, Japanese Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire signed an Exchange of Notes, while the loan agreement was signed by Fujino Kojiro, the JICA Chief Representative in Côte d’Ivoire and Swazi Tshabalala, Acting African Development Bank Group Senior Vice President, in her …

Last year Africa spent more money servicing debts than on the health issues of its public.   According to World Bank, Africa is home to the world’s highest number of heavily indebted poor countries owing a total of US$493.6 billion in long term debts. 

As the World Bank and IMF issue funding aid to help support Africa respond to the effects of COVID-19, countries including Tanzania and Rwanda have asked that the international community focus more on debt relief. 

The IMF issued a statement listing certain countries as being eligible for debt relief and asked others to state their case—to explain why they deserve debt relief. 

The Institute for International Finance, a club of some 450 banks and financial investment firms from across the globe, say they are working on temporarily suspending debt financing by the poorest countries, most of which are in Africa. 

 Also Read: Why high

Rwanda’s I&M Bank has revised its Éclair Loan product where they will lend up to 17.5 times on one’s salary without collateral.

I&M Bank says that the move to increase unsecured loans to 17.5 times one’s salary from 12 times will respond to market demand and consumer needs.

The Executive Director I&M Bank Rwanda, Faustin Byishimo said that the move is also influenced by their experience over the years and adjustment in the regulatory framework.

He added that the efficiency of the Credit Reference Bureau has seen the availability of more reliable data giving them confidence on their move.

“There have also been changes in the local framework that has improved our confidence. For instance, due to the Credit Reference Bureau, One cannot just divert their salaries without due process. The data is cleaner and reliability is much higher,” he said.

To address the market demands, Byishimo said that they …