Finance minister tasks Microfinance Support Centre to drive grassroots growth

AMPALA — Finance Minister Henry Musasizi has directed the Microfinance Support Centre (MSC) to scale up support for savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) and community groups to accelerate Uganda’s drive towards becoming a $500 billion economy by 2040.

Mr Musasizi made the remarks on Tuesday during a meeting with the board and management of the state-owned institution at the Ministry of Finance headquarters, where they reviewed the centre’s performance and future strategy.

The MSC delegation was led by board chairman Dr Emmanuel Kiiza Aliba and Executive Director John Peter Mujuni.

The minister said the institution should strengthen financial inclusion by expanding access to affordable financing for small businesses and low-income households, in line with the government’s long-term economic transformation agenda.

Mr Mujuni said the centre remains focused on providing sustainable financial services to the economically active poor through partner organisations, including SACCOs and community groups.

“We want to see the country covered with vibrant community financial institutions transforming the lives of the active poor,” he said.

As part of its expansion strategy, the centre is targeting the establishment of at least 18 SACCOs in every constituency and a minimum of 18 community groups in every parish by 2030.

According to MSC, its programmes have so far reached about 7.5 million individual beneficiaries across the country.

The institution said SACCOs and community groups supported under its programmes have mobilised savings of Shs639 billion, while its interventions have contributed to the creation of about 1.2 million jobs.

The Microfinance Support Centre is a government-owned company that provides wholesale financing and capacity-building support to community financial institutions to improve access to credit, particularly for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.