Microlenders reject blame for Namibia’s debt crisis
Cashloans blame weak savings and multiple creditors The Micro Lenders Association (MLA) has rejected claims that it is responsible for trapping Namibians in debt, saying individuals’ weak savings practices are partly to blame. The association, which represents cash loan companies, wrote a 15-page letter on 16 June to the parliamentary standing committee on economics. “The […] The post Microlenders reject blame for Namibia’s debt crisis appeared first on The Namibian .
Cashloans blame weak savings and multiple creditors
The Micro Lenders Association (MLA) has rejected claims that it is responsible for trapping Namibians in debt, saying individuals’ weak savings practices are partly to blame.
The association, which represents cash loan companies, wrote a 15-page letter on 16 June to the parliamentary standing committee on economics.
“The available material shows that debt distress arises from wider socio-economic pressures as well as from multiple credit sources, weak savings, income constraints, payroll-system design, and regulatory gaps across the consumer-credit market,” its lawyer, Charles Visser, says.
According to the association, the high levels of debt are caused by economic pressures on individuals rather than predatory lending practices.
“The MLA respectfully but firmly rejects the proposition that registered microlenders should be singled out as the cause of the debt problem when the evidence before the committee points to broader structural causes and a wider credit ecosystem,” the association says.
This comes as the committee examines whether the country’s laws are really protecting civil servants against microlenders, following a motion that was tabled in the National Assembly last year by parliamentarian Inna Hengari.
