The Banjul International Airport Co-operative Credit Union, BIACCU, on Thursday, July 26th held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the old terminal building of Banjul International Airport in Yundum.

The meeting, attended by members of the union and prominent personalities in the Gambian credit union movement, was aimed at taking stock of the union’s activities for the past year and to map out the way forward for the consolidation of the gains so far achieved.

Mr. Babucarr Fatty, Chairman of BIACCU, described the activities undertaken in the year under review as detailed in scope and exhaustive.

Talking on the activities of the union, he said that the amount of loans disbursed to union members has increased significantly in the past year as compared to 2005.

Mr. Fatty also revealed that savings by the members have also increased by 26% in the year under review. He stated that the interest rate has also recorded a percentage increase, revealing that the union’s expenditure has reduced as compared to previous years.

He pointed out that his union expects to be on a sound financial footing if a five-year strategic plan designed by NACCUG and sent to Ireland for funding, is approved.

Mr. Fatty however lamented the late payment of staff dues to the union by GCAA, describing it as one of the major problems affecting the union. “As I speak, GCAA is yet to pay the staff dues to the union for June, 2007. We were having dialogue with the management and at a certain point, we had to seek the intervention of NACCUG. This is having a negative impact on the union but we’ll still continue the dialogue,” he posited.

Other speakers on the occasion included Mr. Nuha Sanneh, the Manager of Central Finance Facility of NACCUG and the forum ended by nominating Messrs. Bai Bittaye and Gibril Krubally as board members of BIACCU, in replacement of two vacant positions. As part of the occasion, certificates of appreciation were awarded to former board members.

The vote of thanks was delivered by Mr. Kebba Ceesay, the Vice Chairman of BIACCU.