THE number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operators that accessed loans between last June and February this year went up by 60%, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) deputy governor Charity Dhliwayo has said.
BY TARISAI MANDIZHA BUSINESS REPORTER
The number of SME operators stood at 5 658 as of June 2013, but has since increased to 9 067 as of February this year.
Speaking at the second SME banking and microfinance summit 2014 in Harare recently, Dhliwayo attributed the surge to improved access to financial services.
Dhliwayo said the value of loan disbursements had also increased to $211,02 million as at February 28, 2014 from $208, 66 million in June 2013.
“There is evidence in our market that some banks have navigated around the well-known challenges facing SMEs and are serving them profitably,” said Dhliwayo. “In this regard, a number of banking institutions have established dedicated SME departments or units to provide customised financial services and capacity building to SMEs.”
She said loans and advances to SMEs constituted 6,02% of the total banking sector loans during the period under review.
“The Reserve Bank continues to encourage banks to leverage on technology to attain greater outreach and penetration while keeping the cost of providing financial services to a minimum,” she said.
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The majority of the workforce in Zimbabwe is now employed in the informal sector where an estimated $3 billion is believed to be circulating.
Dhliwayo added that a total of three million customers were registered for mobile banking services as at December 31 2013, a phenomenal increase from 1, 7 million as at December 31, 2012.
The total value of mobile banking transactions amounted to $2, 09 billion last year compared to $382 million recorded in the previous year.
Dhliwayo said it was estimated that the microfinance subsector in Zimbabwe provided financial services to 150 188 clients through 334 outlets and had a loan portfolio of $164,20 million as at December 31 2013.
In 2006, the RBZ in partnership with other key stakeholders developed the Financial Inclusion Framework in order to enable marginalised communities and SMES to easily access financial services.
She, however, said the implementation of the programme was being hampered by the current economic challenges.
