President William Ruto has defended the move by his administration to remove all loan defaulters from the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) blacklist.
Speaking during the one anniversary since the launch of the Hustler Fund on Thursday, Ruto said the seven million defaulters had been condemned unheard.
“I stand here today to say the seven million Kenyans who were condemned in the CRB ecosystem are out and today we have repaired their credit,” he said.
“Leo wako kwa Hustler Fund na wanaendesha biashara yao…kumanisha we were right, it means they were condemned not because of anything they had done but because they had financial difficulties."
Out of this, some 2.2 million he said are now active borrowers.
“We have given them a product that does not condemn anybody because you did not pay on time…We have given them a product where you can repair your credit rating, you can move on slowly but surely until you get your act together and you succeed,” he added.
He noted that were it not for the decision, the loss would have been locked in the CRB forever denying them the opportunity to progress.
From Sh12 billion offered as seed capital in the Fund, Ruto said, this has progressively grown with Sh39.5 billion having been disbursed so far from a total of 52 million transactions.
Data released further shows that some Sh2 billion have been saved with Sh28.7 billion in loans repaid.
A total of 19 million Kenyans have borrowed with about seven million Kenyans borrowing daily.
Further statistics show that one million people have borrowed 100 times with one individual having borrowed 1,300 times.
The leading borrower has received Sh4.5 million in 814 transactions, saving a total of Sh225,000.
In the voluntary saving scheme launched in March, the top saver has put aside Sh634,000.
There are also 7.7 million borrowers whose overall repayment rate is at 73 per cent.
The Huster Fund group product on the other hand has attracted 50,000 groups out of which, 20,000 groups have received Sh151 million.
