By Bernard Mutambudzi.
State owned Agribank has, as of 31 December 2018, opened 527 agents outlet throughout the country as the bank moves to tap all the unbanked members of the community.
This came out at yesterday’s Financial Overview Full Year for 2018 held in Harare.
Agribank Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sam Malaba said that he was grateful for Government’s support that has enabled the bank to have more outlets around the country.
The bank which was directed by Government to focus on its core business of lending to farmers last year, unveiled two facilities worth $25 million targeted at women and youth in business.
The women’s facility is worth $15 million while that of the youth amounts to $10 million. Agribank said the facilities are accessible at an interest rate of 10 percent per annum, have tenure of 12 months if used for working capital and up to 36 months if funding is for capital development.
“Agribank is expanding financial inclusion targeting the unbanked as well as women and youth through the women and youth empowerment funds,” read part of the bank’s financial statement.
Access to the funds was immediate upon project approval, the bank said, adding that the facilities were part of its “youth and gender mainstreaming” initiative. Contraction of the formal economy in Zimbabwe has seen a rise in women and youth owned businesses.
The bank’s initiative dovetails with government’s policy of empowering women and youth through provision of funding for projects. Recently, government launched the Empowerment Bank, a microfinance institution that is targeted at supporting the marginalised groups.
Government established the Women’s Bank to improve women’s access to financial support given that they have historically been disadvantaged. Previous attempts at funding the youth in particular failed to attain the desired objectives after the majority of those who accessed the loans under the indigenization and empowerment programme failed to pay back the loans. This led to the suspension of the facilities.
Meanwhile, the bank’s corporate governance continues to get recognition after being ranked number 6 out of 38 in the 8th Peer review done in 2018. The bank was also ranked number 1 out of 19 in the SADC Development Finance Institutions ratings.
