By Takaloo, Maungdaw: Military authorities are planning the first ever microcredit lending program for poor in Maungdaw on the western Burmese border, said an official from the Maungdaw Township Council Office.
"We have been preparing to lend microcredit to the urban poor in Maungdaw since last month, so that the poor can raise it as capital to ease their livelihoods - and we believe we will be able to start it very soon," said the official.
The official added that the program will be financed by the Ministry of Cooperatives, and each qualifying person will be lent 30,000 kyat, which is about 30 USD, for the first time through the Maungdaw Township Council.
Any working class poor person, who is interested in a loan, has to form a group with five people and each member has to submit one recently taken passport-size photo and one photocopy of their national identity card or family card, according to the guidelines.
More than 40 such groups have registered so far with the office, said the official.
A widow shopkeeper from Ward One in Maungdaw said, "I have applied for the loan along with my four neighbors because I am now in need of some money to run my shop regularly, and there is also an opportunity of getting more after settling the first loan of 30,000 kyat."
According to the loan guidelines, each borrower must settle 600 kyat per day for two months, The office will take a cut of 1,400 kyat for interest and the remainder will be refunded to the borrower as savings. Anyone who is unable to repay the amount due for three consecutive days will be permanently dismissed from the program.
"Most of the people in the town are living in poverty and are cash-strapped, so some people have applied for the loans with the hope of surviving the crisis, but many others shun the program because it is related to the authorities," said one local businessman.
The businessman added that the authorities should stop their illegal tolls and taxes on the public and should promote free trade if they are really interested in alleviating poverty in Arakan State.
