The Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Women, and Special Groups reported that  Sh422.9 billion has been loaned to 82,699 women through special lending windows for women at various commercial banks.

The figures were presented on June 1, 2026, during the tabling of the ministry’s budget for the 2026/27 financial year.

The special windows are among the innovations introduced in the banking sector to encourage more women to take up formal credit. They operate alongside banks’ general lending windows, and beyond loans, women often receive financial training tailored to their circumstances.

The ministry also reported that commercial banks loaned Sh1.8 trillion to small businesses between July 2025 and April 2026, with women-owned businesses accounting for 24.6 percent of that lending.It urged women to take up the opportunity to access more formal loans and avoid resorting to informal, predatory loans.

Data from the formal sector showcase majority of the lenders are men, while at the same time, the majority of businesses in the informal sector, which require capital for transformation, are run by women.

For example, data from the Bank of Tanzania reveals that between 2018 and 2022, loans totaling Sh. 50.3 trillion were issued to individuals through banks, and mobile networks provided approximately Sh. 602 billion via mobile financial services.

While bank loans were extended to 2.4 million individuals, around 3.5 million people benefited from loans facilitated by mobile networks. The majority of these beneficiaries were men. For banks, 1,649,570 million individuals were men, while 814,075 were women. Concerning mobile networks, 2,233,244 beneficiaries were men, and 1,328,432 were women.