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Single-mothers’ $500M micro-loan facility launched
– no collateral, low interest, up to $250,000
By Leonard Gildarie
In what has been hailed as a flagship programme for assistance to the poor in Guyana, government, in a collaborative effort with a local bank, yesterday launched a $500M scheme that will see single mothers accessing loans up to $250,000 without having to put down any collateral.
A large audience on the tarmac of the Guyana International Convention Centre, Liliendaal, heard that small businesses including catering, dress making, poultry rearing, craft, child care, floral arranging and fabric painting will be among some of the areas to be targeted in the pilot project.
President Bharrat Jagdeo delivering the feature address
Almost 30,000 single parents registered as part of a government programme back in 2008, are eligible to apply for the loans which the Guyana Bank For Trade and Industry (GBTI) will be administering.
Addressing a high profile gathering which included hundreds of single mothers, President Bharrat Jagdeo, several ministers and bankers, GBTI’s Corporate Secretary and Head of Credit, Shaleeza Shaw, stressed that the bank, in endorsing the programme, embraces the growth of industry in the economy.
“So this afternoon, in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, we are pleased to be part of this ceremony to officially launch our new “Women of Worth” (WOW) Loan Plan. WOW recognised the pivotal role women play in society and the fact that they are more likely than men to spend their income on the well-being of their families.”
The bank said that in this initial phase, it will be allocating $500M to help establish, carry on, expand or upgrade small businesses for single mothers.
The loans will attract interest of up to 6% with applicants having up to 24 months to repay.
“Moratoriums of 3 to 6 months on the payment of installments will be granted to borrowers to allow for the migration of new ventures from their embryonic and infancy stages to maturity.”
However, single mothers will have to be between 18 and 60 years and earn less than $40,000 monthly to qualify. Additionally, they have to be registered with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security.
According to Shaw, individuals from groups would have an edge since repayments have been found to be better in these areas.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Priya Manickchand, who was described as being “aggressive” in pushing the micro-credit facility into being, noted that it is one of the many promises now a reality made by the PPP/C government in its manifesto for the 2006 elections.
Last year, over 360 single mothers were trained, with government also issuing a voucher grant for $65,000 to kick-start small businesses for the graduands.
Manickchand acknowledged that the empowering of single mothers is a powerful way to help develop the country.
“This (WOW) is government caring for the women of Guyana,” she said.
President Jagdeo, in his feature address, noted that it is the third such facility backed by government, for the vulnerables of Guyana. One was seed money to the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED). In addition to these, there are legislations passed that also lent to the further assistance.
With the recent Credit Report Bill which will help to reduce the risk for lending institutions, earlier this week, a Bill was passed in parliament to allow tax concessions just for lending to small businesses.
Hopefully, other banks will also take the initiative and join GBTI introducing similar schemes like WOW, Jagdeo urged. The tax concessions, he advised, are geared to further reduce interest rates and this in turn can help spur development.
Meanwhile, venturing off, the President made reference to the dropping of interest rates last year on mortgages which saw a huge number of applications being made. Lending jumped from $3.1B to $27B in 2009 alone, an increase of over 700%.
The Head of State also noted that the figures are indicating that more and more women are staying in school and graduating than their opposites.
The problem will be how to close that gap.
Additionally, the fact is Guyana is limited in its resources to fully plug into all the sectors.
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