Cabinet lowers GROW project interest rate as affirmative action for Karamoja

14 March 2025, 7:16 pm

By Stanley Ebele

Cabinet has given special consideration to women from the Karamoja, Bukedi, and Busoga subregions by offering a two-percent reduction on the GROW project loan interest rate.

The announcement was made during Centenary Bank’s engagement with businesswomen at Caritas Hall in Kotido municipality on Thursday.

Joseph Nyende, the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at Centenary Bank, one of the commercial institutions contracted by the government to channel GROW loans to businesswomen, said that the Cabinet’s offer serves as an incentive to attract more women from the mentioned regions into business.

GROW project loans are typically charged an interest rate of 10.5 percent per annum for women across the country. However, businesswomen in Karamoja, Bukedi, and Busoga will now access the fund at a reduced interest rate of 8.5 percent per annum.

Despite the reduction in interest rates, the guidelines, especially those regarding collateral remain unchanged for all prospective borrowers.

Boniface Anzovule Made, a loans officer at Centenary Bank’s Kotido Branch, stated that the fund is available to businesswomen with a minimum capital of 6.8 million shillings.

Meanwhile, several women who attended the training expressed mixed reactions about the collateral requirements, citing financial constraints as a challenge to expanding their businesses.