NEARLY seven out of 10 loans in Zimbabwe were taken out by males, amid concern that females remain financially excluded from the mainsteam economy, a central bank report has shown.
BERNARD MPOFU
Zimbabwe is currently running a credit registry system which profiles the creditworthiness of citizens as the authorities seek to improve financial inclusion as well as minimise systemic risks in the banking sector triggered by high levels of non-performing loans.
According to the latest Monetary Policy Statement presented on Thursday, the Credit Registry System registered a total of 1,126,411 enquiries as at 30 June 2022, up from 980,187 as at 31 December 2021 reflecting increased usage as the adoption of the Credit Registry System improves over time.
“The Credit Registry had 541 488 active loan contracts as at 30 June 2022, with individuals’ records accounting for 97.93% of the records,” the statement reads.
“Gender distribution of loans is generally skewed towards male borrowers who constituted 68.31% while female borrowers constituted 31.69% of loan contracts in the Credit Registry.
“The Credit Registry database indicates that only 6.86% of total loans granted to female borrowers were delinquent compared to 7.27 % for male borrowers.”
The sustained availability and growth of the credit registry system, according to monetary authorities, continues to play a critical role in the provision of credit and effective management and on-going monitoring of credit in the sector.
“The Credit Registry has commenced engagements with microfinance institutions to bring them on board as data providers. It is anticipated that microfinance institutions data will further enrich and broaden the scope of credit registry database, reads the Monetary Policy Statement.
“The Bank is targeting to conduct the final pilot testing of the Collateral Registry System with stakeholders during the month of August 2022. The Collateral Registry system is expected to centralise the database of movable assets accepted by banks and MFIs as collateral for secured loans. The new system will facilitate access to credit and encourage economic activity and contribute towards stimulating growth to the various economic sectors.”
Official figures show that non-performing loans which stood at 10.82 in December 2015 have been trending downwards and as at June this year, the figure stood at 1.5% as banking institutions took a conservative lending approach due to rising inflation.
