Bill capping interest rates to hurt poor, says CEO of Kenya Women Holdings

Jennifer Riria, the CEO of Kenya Women Holdings

The law capping interest rates might spell doom for millions of women and the poor who have come to rely on funding from microfinance institutions.

According to Jeniffer Riria, the CEO of Kenya Women Holdings, the Banking Amendment Bill 2015 which caps interest rates at no more than four per cent of the prevailing Kenya Banks’ Reference Rate, threatens to reverse all the gains the country has made in integrating the poor and women into the financial sector.