E335 000 LOANS DISTRIBUTED TO ‘BEND AND PICK’ VENDORS SO FAR

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E335 000 LOANS DISTRIBUTED TO ‘BEND AND PICK’ VENDORS SO FAR
E335 000 LOANS DISTRIBUTED TO ‘BEND AND PICK’ VENDORS SO FAR

Africa-Press – Eswatini. A total ofE335 000 worth of loans have already been distributed to 67 ‘Bend and Pick’ vendors affected by fire at the Manzini storage facility, which occurred two months ago.

Over 400 ‘Bend and Pick’ vendors lost their stock at the facility, which is adjacent to the Manzini bus rank.

Director of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the ministry of commerce industry and trade Mluleki Dlamini said they received 101 applications for loans and they had only approved 67 of those applications.

“So far 67 applications that have been approved and have seen us give E335 000 worth of loans. We are now left with 34 unapproved applications,” he said.

Dlamini mentioned that with the remaining 34 applications, they were still working on approving them and they would start responding in two weeks. He further encouraged any other vendor affected by the fire and had not yet sent in their application to do so in order to receive assistance.

“We are hoping that all those who were affected have submitted their applications. However, we ask that those who haven’t submitted them to do so as quickly as possible so that they can be assisted. Applications are still open as long as your business was affected by the fire,” he said.

Dlamini had previously emphasised that in the case of the different nationalities of the business, they would stick to the criteria of the fund.

“The criteria explains who gets help through it, it will act as guide for us as we administer these funds and we would be looking at their statuses in terms of nationality to see if they meet the relevant requirements and conditions of the fund,” Dlamini stated.

According to the Minister of Commerce Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo when making the announcement, he had mentioned that the loans would be up to E5 000 under the Informal Traders Revolving Fund administered by FINCORP on behalf of government.

Khumalo stated that the loans would be repayable over a 12-month period at an interest rate of 0.5 per cent.

It was previously stated that the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) reported that the fire destroyed property worth an estimated E8 million.

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