Small businesses say no high interest rates

The owners of small and medium enterprises in Zimbabwe’s second city of Bulawayo have formed an action group to oppose what they said were crippling rates of interest, the BBC reported on Wednesday. Sam Ncube, a Bulawayo businessman in the transport and manufacturing sector said that he had formed the organisation to hit back at what he called “levels of interest that are killing us”. Ncube said that money lenders, banks and financial institutions were charging up to 70 percent interest on loans and these rates were impacting negatively on those running small businesses. Zimbabwe’s economic problems and lack of foreign currency have led to inflation and soaring interest rates. Many businesses have already closed due to lack of demand for their products. Unsure of who was to blame for the problems of small businesses, Ncube called for a national interest rate boycott urging companies to re-pay only the capital component of loans.