By Patience Lunda
National Economic Empowerment Fund (Neef) has revealed plans to reduce the amount of loan disbursement by 33 percent to K20 billion but increase the number of beneficiaries by 30 percent to 170,000 in 2023.
In 2022, the fund disbursed K26 billion to 130,000 individuals and groups.
In an interview, Neef Chief Executive Officer Humphreys Mdyetseni said they also want to intensify the loan recovery programme to hit the minimum recommendation collection rate of 80 percent from the 60 percent recorded in 2022.
Mdyetseni added that they will also increase the number of loan officers in constituencies amidst rising demand from potential beneficiaries.
“We want to be quite decisive in terms of achieving important targets that we had set by, among other things, reaching the target we set to reach out to 170,000 beneficiaries and we will continue to intensify the loan recovery programme and, with the growth of interest from people wanting to benefit from the programme, the number of loan officers will be increased,” Mdyetseni said.
Centre for Social Concern Programmes Officer Bernard Mphepo said Neef has not helped uplift standards of Malawians as expected and suggested the need for removal of barriers in accessing loans.
“Neef was supposed to be a tool for creating employment but many people are not benefitting and we suggest that it should not be politicised,” Mphepo said.
According to Neef, in 2022, a lot of beneficiaries defaulted on payment of loans and there was slow uptake of other loan products.