Mortgage industry upbeat

Apr 11, 2006

THE proposed government’s recapitalisation of Housing Finance Company (HFCU) to the tune of sh60b will drive mortgage interest rates down, making housing affordable to more Ugandans, HFCU’s chief executive officer has said.

By Sylvia Juuko
THE proposed government’s recapitalisation of Housing Finance Company (HFCU) to the tune of sh60b will drive mortgage interest rates down, making housing affordable to more Ugandans, HFCU’s chief executive officer has said.

In his manifesto this year, President Yoweri Museveni said the sh30b, the Government raised from sale of pool houses to senior civil servants would be used to capitalise HFCU. This will be supplemented by another 50% raised from shareholders like the National Social Security Fund.

“If the Government injects sh30b into HFCU, the other shareholder will be required to inject sh30b. All this will be in cash form. This will have a great impact because it is a contribution by the shareholders on which interest is not payable,” Nicholas Okwir said.

“This money, being of low interest, will influence the market drastically. It should be able to bring down the costs like interest rates charged on mortgages,” Okwir said during an interview recently.

He said with the capital base of sh50-sh60b, the company’s ability to borrow money for onward lending would be enhanced.
Ends

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});