Government receives Sh31billion dividend payout from NMB

Dodoma. The Sh41.48 trillion national budget, which was presented in Parliament on Tuesday, received a vital boost yesterday when the government received Sh30.7 billion dividend from NMB Plc.

Vice President Philip Mpango, accompanied by Finance and Planning minister Mwigulu Nchemba, received a dummy cheque carrying the figure of Sh30.7 billion yesterday from NMB Bank Plc’s board chairman Edwin Mhede, chief executive officer Ruth Zaipuna and chief finance officer Juma Kimori.

The money is part of a total of Sh96.7 billion that NMB Bank Plc shareholders approved to be paid as dividends during their 22nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) early this month.

Last year, the banking outfit registered a record net profit of Sh290 billion.

The government holds a 31.8 percent stake in NMB Bank Plc.

Gracing the event, Dr Mpango exuded his delight to see the dividend increasing.

“I’m happy to see that you have come up with a higher dividend. When I go to welcome the President [from her visit to Oman], this is one of the things that I will inform her. Congratulations,” Dr Mpango said.

Speaking during the event, NMB Bank Plc’s board chairman Edwin Mhede thanked the government for pursuing conducive macroeconomic policies that resulted in a sound performance of the banking sector in particular and the economy as a whole. “This is why during a time like this one last year, the government received Sh21.8 billion as dividend from its shares in NMB Bank Plc. Today, it is receiving Sh30.7 billion for the same shares. This represents an increase of 40.83 percent,” he said.

Briefing the Vice President, NMB Bank Plc chief executive officer Ruth Zaipuna said apart from the Sh30.7 billion in dividend – which has already been deposited in the account for the Treasury Registrar – the bank has also paid a total of Sh269 billion in various taxes including Income Tax, Skills Development Levy and Value Added Tax among others.

“NMB Bank Plc will continue to partner with the government in efforts to improve social and economic development, mostly through investment in the agriculture and trade sectors,” she said, revealing that as of December 2021, NMB Bank Plc had disbursed a total of Sh4.3 trillion in loans to farmers, small and medium enterprises and to individuals.

In line with the government’s plan to ensure that commercial banks’ loans to the agricultural sector are obtained at affordable interest rates, Ms Zaipuna told Dr Mpango that so far, NMB Bank Plc has loaned the entire Sh100 billion that it had set aside for such loans at an interest rate of 10 percent and that it has started releasing another Sh100 billion for such loans at an interest rate of nine percent