Co-operative to provide loans to government workers

The Botswana Public Officers' Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited was registered in July this year with over P9 million in its bank account. It has registered some 4,500 members and is still targeting more in the 125,000-strong civil service workers force. The cooperative is meant to protect government workers from high interest rates charged by local banks and taxes charged on savings by banks.

It will give loans to public workers at low interest rates and flexible payment terms. The cooperative is based at the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM). The move is likely to hit hard on the earnings and profits of local banks where civil servants who constitute the majority of workers in Botswana, have various loan schemes.