Call to Raise Microfinance Ratio from 12% to 20%
Sudan Events – Rehab Abdullah
Dr. Badr Al-Din Qirshi, former First Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sudan, proposed a restructuring plan to ensure the continuity of agricultural and livestock financing. The proposal includes merging three banks into one and renaming it as the Agricultural and Livestock Production Development Bank.
He further suggested merging Omdurman National Bank, the Industrial Development Bank, and the Nilein Bank into a single entity, renaming it the Sudanese Bank for Reconstruction and Industrial Development to ensure sustainable financing for reconstruction, industry, and manufacturing.
Dr. Qirshi noted that the next step would be to consolidate the remaining banks into eight major institutions.
He also called for raising the microfinance ratio from 12% to 20% of banks’ total financing portfolios, to be allocated to small and medium financing institutions.
Qirshi praised the Central Bank’s policy of incentivizing banks that utilize the full 12% allocation for microfinance by granting a 5% reduction in their legal reserve requirements — a move that has increased banks’ participation in microfinance.
However, Ahmed Babiker Hamour, Director General of the National Agency for Export Development and Finance, noted that despite the soundness of the decision, the share of microfinance still does not exceed 5% of the banks’ total financing portfolio.
