Kibo Community Bank Opening Soon...

THE Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has provisionally licensed Moshi Rural District Council to establish and operate a community bank. Moshi Rural Member of Parliament, Dr Cyril Chami, told reporters here that the bank - Kibo Community Bank - is scheduled for opening this year, with local communities given the opportunity to own the bank through purchase of shares at 100/- each. The minimum amount of shares to buy is set at 500. "For only 50,000/- one can buy 500 shares and become one of the bank owners... we have set this amount to enable common men to own the bank," he said at the conference. Shareholders would easily get loans from the bank as they would only need to submit their shareholding documents when the amount of loan applied is less than the value of his or her shares, he said. For customers applying loans higher than the value of their shares, they would need to join groups such as Savings and Credits Cooperatives or Village Community Banks which will offer guarantee. "Unlike commercial banks, there will be no need to mortgage a house or a plot of land. Our conditions will be easy to make it simple for the people to obtain loans from the bank," he said. Dr Chami said the bank targets small scale farmers, businesspersons and employees in the public and private sector as its potential market. He said President Jakaya Kikwete had promised to patron the bank upon its establishment.