THE government system that had disrupted the processing of new loans for civil servants has been restored, allowing some financial institutions to resume processing applications.
Affected civil servants said they were eventually able to access loans from some financial service providers on Monday, after the disruption had affected the process for about a week.
The development follows reports that some lenders had been unable to process new loan applications because they could not access critical information through the government’s Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS).
The affected civil servants said they first experienced the problem last Tuesday, with some who had expected to receive their loans last week being informed that their applications could not be finalised because of the system disruption.
The outage had particularly affected employees who were hoping to take advantage of increased borrowing capacity following improvements in their salaries.
Financial institutions rely on information obtained through the government system when assessing loan applications, including an applicant’s existing financial obligations and whether deductions would remain within the 33% threshold allowed against their salaries.
One source within a financial institution previously said the disruption made it difficult for lenders to establish how many entities an applicant owed and, consequently, whether the applicant qualified for additional credit.
The source said some civil servants had applied for loans after their improved salaries increased the amount they could potentially borrow within the 33% threshold.
While the disruption affected new loan applications, financial institutions were still able to receive September instalments from civil servants who already had loans.
Standard Bank Eswatini said it was aware of reports concerning disruptions affecting certain government digital services but declined to comment on the specific impact on its operations.
The bank’s Communications and CSI Specialist in the Brand and Marketing division, Nomawethu Jonga, said the bank had business continuity measures in place to support the delivery of banking services.
She said the bank could not publicly comment on internal operational matters, third-party systems, customer volumes or engagements with external stakeholders.
The restoration of the system comes amid wider disruptions affecting several government digital services.
Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Communication Officer Mihla Khumalo had not provided a full update on the services that could now be accessed by the public.
Previously, the ministry had acknowledged that several government web-based services and digital platforms had experienced outages, causing inconvenience and disruption to citizens, businesses and other users.
IFMIS was among the government digital platforms identified as being affected by the disruptions.
The restoration is expected to ease the difficulties experienced by civil servants seeking new loans, particularly those who had been waiting for their applications to be processed.
