CRDB Bank lends Sh67 billion to mining sector, pledges more to women

Dar es Salaam. Having given loans amounting to more than Sh67 billion to the mining sector in the first quarter of 2023, CRDB Bank has invited women miners to take advantage of such opportunities, including those found through its Imbeju programme.

This was said by the managing director of the CRDB Bank Foundation, Ms Tully Mwambapa, at the mining exhibition held in the Lindi region that involved women in the mining sector countrywide.

“CRDB Bank is a major stakeholder in the mining sector. From January to March this year, we issued loans amounting to Sh67 billion in the mining sector alone. I congratulate the Association of Tanzanian Women Miners (Tawoma) for organising this festival that aims to create opportunities for women in the southern regions, especially in the Lindi region. These efforts will encourage the participation of citizens in the extraction of strategic minerals in the country, especially graphite found here in Ruangwa,” said Ms Mwambapa.

At the beginning of last year, CRDB Bank agreed with the National Mining Corporation (Stamico) to help small-scale miners get loans that will strengthen their activities. In the first quarter of this year, Ms Mwambapa, who is the communication director of CRDB Bank, said they have been issuing loans.

Recognising the special needs of women, the Bank has established the CRDB Bank Foundation focused on managing sustainable programmes to empower women and youth in the country.

Until May 26, CRDB Bank Foundation had reached a total of 10,238 women and provided them with education before providing them with the enabling capital to grow their businesses.

“These efforts to reach women continue in various regions of the country, and I am happy that through the Lindi Madini Festival, we have had the opportunity to continue bringing it here to empower women and stimulate the development of the Lindi Region and the nation as a whole,” she said. The chairperson of the Association of Tanzanian Women Miners, Ms Palina Ninja, said that if banks allow them to get loans to promote their activities, the economy of many families in the country will improve, thus making the fight against poverty easier.

“If the mother has a guaranteed income, the family’s economy will grow. We are asking the commercial banks in the country to relax the conditions so that we can get loans easily. Women are honest. The mining industry has a great opportunity to reduce poverty if many women participate,” said Ms Ninja.

The official guest at the exhibition, Ruangwa District Commissioner, Hassan Ngoma said the government continues to remove obstacles to doing business in the country so that every entrepreneur can benefit from the opportunities he sees in front of him. To facilitate access to capital, Mr Ngoma said that the government will continue to enact friendly policies as it did in agriculture, where it has allocated loans to financial institutions that will lend at less than 10 percent to facilitate the production of food and commercial crops.