News / National
Registration for civil servants' loan fund starts
21 Feb 2021 at 06:57hrs | Views
CIVIL servants have been given until end of this month to register for the $75 million Government Employees Mutual Savings (GEMS) loan fund, which aims to improve public workers' livelihoods through flexible and concessionary loans.
Interested Government employees are required to register at their respective ministries, which will then submit lists to the Salary Service Bureau (SSB) for deductions that will commence in March.
The deductions of 2,5 percent of gross salary are being done on a voluntary basis.
Members will begin accessing shortto medium-term loans at a nominal rate of 10 percent per annum after contributing for three months.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Public Service Commission Secretary Ambassador Jonathan Wutawunashe said members will now register first as opposed to the initial option which advocated deductions first.
"We have directed ministries to have their members fill in the forms and the SSB will then deduct the funds after the list has been compiled. Initially, we had proposed to have the money deducted and opt out later. However, we are now saying they should register by filling in forms, which we think will take time. So we have given members until the end of February and early March, with deductions set to begin in March."
The cheaply priced personal loans are expected to improve livelihoods of civil servants.
Lending thresholds are projected to range between 10 percent and 15 percent per annum depending on the amount applied and repayment period.
Interested Government employees are required to register at their respective ministries, which will then submit lists to the Salary Service Bureau (SSB) for deductions that will commence in March.
The deductions of 2,5 percent of gross salary are being done on a voluntary basis.
Members will begin accessing shortto medium-term loans at a nominal rate of 10 percent per annum after contributing for three months.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Public Service Commission Secretary Ambassador Jonathan Wutawunashe said members will now register first as opposed to the initial option which advocated deductions first.
"We have directed ministries to have their members fill in the forms and the SSB will then deduct the funds after the list has been compiled. Initially, we had proposed to have the money deducted and opt out later. However, we are now saying they should register by filling in forms, which we think will take time. So we have given members until the end of February and early March, with deductions set to begin in March."
The cheaply priced personal loans are expected to improve livelihoods of civil servants.
Lending thresholds are projected to range between 10 percent and 15 percent per annum depending on the amount applied and repayment period.
Source - sundaymail
