During the August 9, presidential elections, the then UDA presidential candidate William Ruto pledged to review credit listing.
Ruto said the move would open up access to credit for people barred from borrowing from financial institutions over negative listings.
On Wednesday, September 28, Kenya’s President William Ruto met officials from Treasury, Central Bank, Safaricom, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), and NCBA in Nairobi.
The Head of State announced that at least four million Kenyans will be delisted from the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) listing.
“I am very happy that between 4 to 5 million Kenyans will, by the beginning of November be out of the CRB blacklist,” President Ruto.
Ruto said the move will give Kenyans to access credit and put end to exploitation from what he described as “predatory lenders”.
“This is very important because these Kenyans have been excluded from any formal borrowing and have been left at the mercies of shylocks that exploit them,” Ruto said.
The President, however, did not clarify the category of defaulters who will be removed from the CRB.
President Ruto further challenged lenders to think beyond financial inclusion to a more accessible and affordable credit model.
In a move to help small enterprises flourish and drive the country’s economic growth, the first in command said the government is working with lenders to develop a financial credit for mama mboga and boda boda. “We will work with lenders to develop a financial product that allows mama mboga to access credit at a single-digit interest rate the same way big firms do,”
The announcement comes just days after Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor, Patrick Njoroge, maintained the need to abide by the country’s monetary policies.
