FACTORS AFFECTING ACCESSIBILITY OF CREDIT TO YOUTH IN TANZANIA:

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess youth's credit accessibility and employment creation in Kaliva District. Specifically, the study aimed at, identifying the proportion of youth with access to credit, identifying the challenges faced by the youth in their endeavor to acquire credit, and determining the contribution of youth's access to credit towards employment creation. The study adopted a cross-sectional design whereby data were collected once from 181 randomly selected youth. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Primary quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS whereby descriptive and inferential statistics were determined. Qualitative data collected through the focus group discussions and key informant interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings from the study show that only a few of the youth had access to credit. Lack of collateral was the major challenge the youth faced in accessing credit. The study observed that interest rate was another setback to youth's access to credit. Lastly, the study findings show that most of the youth who had credit were able to create employment for others thus, contributing to the reduction of unemployment. Based on the findings the proportional of the youth accessing credit in Kaliva District is very small and this is mainly due to inadequate collateral. It is recommended that the issue of collateral needs to be looked at, to create positive conditions for the youth to access credit. Lending institutions should reduce their interest rates to enable youths to access credit. Also, training on financial management before and after the disbursement of credit should be done to get the most from the credit accessed by the youth.