Govt pledges 2bn/- annual subsidies to Women Bank

The government has promised to support Tanzania Women Bank (TWB) with 2 billion every year in subsidies to help the bank expand and benefit more women.

 

The announcement was aired yesterday in Dar es Salaam by Ummy Mwalimu the Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, the elderly and children when she visited the bank with her Deputy Minister Dr Khamis Kigwangalla and accompanied by other officials from the ministry.

 

Minister Ummy congratulated the bank for having good banking services especially for women entrepreneurs who are small and medium entrepreneurs.

She said the government through her ministry has strategies to give the bank more support so as to enable it  increase centres countrywide particularly in the regions, districts and villages.

 

She also urged government institutions and parastatals to open accounts with the bank and channel salaries through the bank. She summed up commending the bank for providing various types of loans including surveyed plots, they can use to access bank loans.

 

Managing Director of the bank, Margaret Chacha said the bank got a clean audit report from the Controller and Auditor General of the government.

The bank got a profit of 141 million in 2014 a success it attributed to growth in rural settings and also improved banking services through Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

 

The bank has succeeded to increase its assets from zero in 2009 to 27 billion by 31 December 2014. Customer deposits increased to 27 billion in 2014 from 45,000 accounts. The capital from shareholders increased from 2.8 up to 8.7 in 2014.

 

However, the bank still needs to increase its capital base to reach 15 billion as stipulated by the Bank of Tanzania.

 

Collection of revenues grew to 7 billion in 31 December, 2014 while infrastructure at the bank also grew to reach two branches in Dar es Salaam and centres for service provision across 7 regions including Pwani, Mwanza, Dodoma, Mbeya, Iringa, Ruvuma and Njombe. 

 

The bank has 5 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) through a network of Umoja Switch which has more than 200 machines all over the country.

 

The bank also cooperates with telephone networks so customers of the bank can perform transactions via their mobile phones.

 By Lios media