Finance Minister N’gandu Magande has it is a big challenge to maintain a single digit inflation rate in light of the soaring global oil and fuel prices.
He said short and medium developments in the external sector would continue posing a threat on macroeconomic stability and effective monetary policy.
He said inflation challenges could only be resolved through collective efforts by all key stakeholders especially those in the financial sector.
Mr. Magande said this during the Second African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA) Conference under the theme: Promoting Financial Sectors with increased investments in agriculture.
He also observed that between 2 and 3 billion people worldwide, are excluded from having access to financial services, despite consensus on the importance of financial inclusion as a poverty alleviation tool.
Mr. Magande said the limited use of financial services in developing countries, has become an international policy concern, because widespread financial exclusion was disadvantaging the poor people in low income brackets.
He said access to financial services for all was a key factor in development, because it contributed to economic growth and social safety nets that protect the vulnerable from adverse economic shocks.
He said Government recognized the importance of the financial sector in national development and would aim at establishing a financial system which would be stable, sound, market-based and in support of economic diversification and sustainable growth.
At the same function, Bank of Zambia Governor Caleb Fundanga said Government would strive to increase the level of financial services to 48 percent by the end of 2008 and 50 percent by 2009.
Mr. Fundanga said this was because a study called Finscope Supply-Side Survey conducted in 2007 revealed that bank charges were unaffordable for 90 percent of the rural adult population and banks had high interest rates.
The governor was however delighted to note that financial institutions in the country were rising up to the challenge of broadening the scope of their services and extending beyond traditional customers by including previously unbanked communities.
ENDS/AMM/PK/ZANIS.
Here here..prepare yourselves for the rough ride that is coming!!!
Brace yourselves Zambians for hard times under the MMD. Otherwise, Vote the UPND’s HH for a real ray of change and hope in the Zambian system of gavernance that all Zambian Citizens can believe and trust in.
Pa bwatoooooooooooooooo, lets go on
You are just hurt after losing to RB. dnt play on our minds Mudala iwe.what fuel check with malawi the have reduced the price of Maize, we know you aisha ( remember the nanga saga) unadya ka envelope ka khaki from C.D.C. no tricks
Sense mr Magande. Calibipa bali mifyenga.
SIR EVELYNE HONE, KK, FTJ, SATA, HH, MAGANDE
True no doubt. Times is hard mate….
How about achieving single digit interest rates, Minister Magande?
cosmetics
Bakamba chani aaba kansi? No wonder he lost to RB.
fed up with your cooked inflation figures, who can trust u? even yo friends in mmd rejected yo application for presidency, shame….
A level headed comment (leaving my political tones aside for now )is that 1.we have failed to monitor distortions on our economy. When you do Economic Crimes Research you discover that the FAKE CURRENCIES being manufactured and circulated in Zambia have led to increased MS (money supply). The crooks change these fake US dollars and ZMK 50, 000 notes to unsuspecting traders who do not take money to banks (infestors). after discovering they are fake…only destroy them for fear of prosecutuion; and spend it at will raising prices-inflationary, or else the little we have had with proper people in right places singly digit is no big deal. WE may ignore this at our peril! 2. (no space)