Tanzania only EAC partner ‘without microfinance law’
The Finance and Planning minister, Dr Phillip Mpango speaks in Parliament during a past session. PHOTO|FILE
What you need to know:
- Tanzania Microfinance Association (TAMFI) board chairman Joel Mwakitalu said this in Dar es Salaam yesterday during the second East Africa Microfinance summit.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is the only country among East Africa Community (EAC) member states that has not enacted a law to regulate all microfinance activities, thus limiting their reinforcement and development.
Tanzania Microfinance Association (TAMFI) board chairman Joel Mwakitalu said this in Dar es Salaam yesterday during the second East Africa Microfinance summit.
He said by December 2014, there were about 13,818 microfinance institutions (MFIs) that provided microfinance services throughout the region. “Our target is to reach 20 million clients in the next five years,” he said.
According to him, Rwanda and Burundi are fully regulating the activities of MFIs, while Kenya and Uganda have also started doing so.
He called on the government to speed up the process of reviewing the approved microfinance policy, which has been shelved since last year. “We hope the government will finally enact the Microfinance Act after shelving it since last year,” he said.
According to the deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of Finance and Planning, Ms Amina Hamisi, the cabinet has already approved the National Microfinance Policy and it is expected that in the near future, a Microfinance Bill will be submitted to the National Assembly. She said the policy had provided guidelines on approaches and actions aimed at fostering safe and sound adoption of innovative, adequate, low-cost financial models necessary for accelerating financial inclusion.
