The Government has revealed plans to allocate a further Ksh.5 billion to the Hustler Fund.
The digital financial initiative was launched by President William Ruto in 2022 to provide loans to small businesses in the country that have always struggled to access financing from local banks.
“In transformation of SMEs’ the government allocates Ksh. 5 Billion inclusion to the Hustler fund.” Treasury Cabinet Secretary Prof Njuguna Ndung’u said while delivering his second budget in the Kenya Kwanza government on Thursday.
This is a 50% drop from last year when the government announced a Ksh.10 billion allocation to the fund. It also comes at a time when the government is stepping up efforts to recover billions of shillings from Kenyans who are yet to pay the loan.
The Hustler Fund was designed to improve financial access to responsible finance for personal, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). It is a creation of the draft Public Finance Management (Financial Inclusion Fund) Regulations, 2022 and was one of President Ruto’s key promises during the campaigns.
The Fund was divided into four products. These include Personal Finance – (KSh 500 to KSh. 50,000 depending on your scoring), Micro Loans, SME Loans and Startup.
One year after being launched, the fund has disbursed KSh39.7 billion to 21.8 million people and mobilised KSh2 billion in savings. Total repayments stood at KShs 28.75 billion.
In November last year, President William Ruto said Kenyans will now be able to borrow more as the fund increases borrowing limits by up to 100 per cent.
“Additionally, for those who have demonstrated a commitment to saving, and your savings exceed your loan limit, we will double your credit limit,” he said.
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