{"id":119244,"date":"2025-08-04T15:09:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T15:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/08\/04\/sh340-down-the-drain-for-every-sh500-loaned-under-hustler-fund-report\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T15:09:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T15:09:48","slug":"sh340-down-the-drain-for-every-sh500-loaned-under-hustler-fund-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/sh340-down-the-drain-for-every-sh500-loaned-under-hustler-fund-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Sh340 down the drain for every Sh500 loaned under Hustler Fund \u2013 Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 4 \u2013 A new report by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) has raised concerns over the government\u2019s flagship Hustler Fund, describing it as a loss-making scheme disguised as economic empowerment.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Published on Monday, the report titled \u2018Failing the Hustlers\u2019 cites a default rate of 68.3 per cent with an estimated Sh340 lost for every Sh500 disbursed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 68 per cent default rate means that for every Sh500 loan disbursed, Sh340 [is] effectively lost,\u201d KHRC stated.<\/p>\n<p>The rights commission also said the findings showed little evidence of economic empowerment linked to the loans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy September 2024, over Sh53 billion had [been] disbursed. But the study found no measurable impact on enterprise development or job creation,\u201d the commission said.<\/p>\n<p>Launched on November 30, 2022 with a startup capital of Sh50 billion, the Hustler Fund was a key component of the Kenya Kwanza administration\u2019s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA). <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">True cost <\/h2>\n<p>The initiative promised to expand access to credit for individuals and businesses and has, according to official government data, disbursed over Sh36 billion to 21 million individuals and more than 1.1 million members in 51,000 registered groups.<\/p>\n<p>However, the KHRC report challenges the fund\u2019s financial sustainability, estimating the true cost to taxpayers at 71.5 per cent. <\/p>\n<p>The figure takes into account the high default rate, the government\u2019s borrowing costs through Treasury bills, and an additional 3 percent operational cost.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the national fiscal deficit already at 3.5 per cent of GDP, the government is forced to borrow, mainly through Treasury bills, to keep this initiative afloat. At an average T-bill rate of 8.2 percent (as of December 2022), plus the three percent operational cost mandated by law, the real cost of credit balloons,\u201d the report notes.<\/p>\n<p>KHRC concludes that the fund\u2019s high default rate and dependence on borrowing render it an unsustainable and costly venture for Kenyan taxpayers.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 4 \u2013 A new report by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) has raised concerns over the government\u2019s flagship Hustler Fund, describing it as a loss-making scheme disguised as economic empowerment. Published on Monday, the report titled \u2018Failing the Hustlers\u2019 cites a default rate of 68.3 per cent with an estimated Sh340 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}