Democratic Party (DP) has suggested a review of loan repayment structures by commercial banks for the business community to allow them to navigate the effects of the pandemic on their businesses without strain from banks.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday in Kampala, the party spokesperson Okoler Opio Lo Amanu, said the business community needs to be supported at this moment.
“The government through Bank of Uganda should facilitate and cause the restructuring of loan agreements between commercial banks and business owners especially in the private sector as this would allow for time to enable prompt payment of the loans,” he said.
Opio explained that this will also reduce the number of non-performing loans which without doubt affects the operation of commercial banks thus impacting on the way these banks conduct business with their customers, who are basically business men and women in the private sector.
“This is the time for the Bank of Uganda to intervene. The Bank of Uganda should come up with an intervening strategy to save the operation of businesses, it should be made compulsory for the commercial banks to open renegotiation of the terms of payment of loans with the business owners,” he suggested.
He also noted that it is a good idea to earmark money that will jump-start some businesses questioning whether the government has the records of all businesses in Uganda.
“ It is unfortunate that whenever government talks of business owners, they consider the property developers in Kampala Metropolitan, just the other day Akamweesi was given a lot of money under the pretext of jumpstarting him, ”he said .
He said that the government forgets about the fact that even in the periphery of the capital city there are businesses.
“The government should therefore prioritize SMEs countrywide while identifying businesses to be supported with stimulus packages, the other thing is that this money should be increased from 200 billion shillings to one trillion.
Opio also asked the government to open schools and all tertiary institutions, saying if the same can manage organised institutions like prisons, the army and police, the same is possible for schools
“The pandemic is here with us, therefore life must go on though not normally but sectors that are controllable should be opened to an extent for instance, as primary schools still keep home let secondary schools and Institutions of Higher learning be opened after all it has been demonstrated through Institutions like the prisons, police and military barracks that have the same set up with schools that it is possible to operate but without fatalities to the students,” he said.
