Chikwanda urges African interest groups to create a viable, competitive and well governed regional market

Outgoing PTA Bank Chairperson and Zambia’s Minister of Finance Alexander Chikwanda has urged African interest groups to work together towards the creation of a viable regional market, which is attractive, competitive and well governed.

“We should move more seriously because the youths, and the general populace in the East and Southern African region, are tired of reading newspaper reports about speeches made from lofty platforms and promising them economic emancipation.

“What they want is action which will give them life skills, jobs and sustainable livelihoods so that they permanently stay away from exposure to crime and delinquency,” prodded Mr. Chikwanda.

Addressing delegates at the 29th Session of the PTA Bank Annual Meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Minister Chikwanda feared that although statistics reflected regional economic performance positively trending upwards at enviable rates of more than 5 percent per annum, the reality on the ground in most countries was that growth was barely touching the lives of the needy.

“Going forward, it is our inescapable duty to make a difference, and to do this, we need to close the infrastructure deficit in our countries and the region,” he said.

He said closing the infrastructure gap would inevitably enhance the competitiveness of the east and southern African region by reducing the cost of doing business, creating employment for the youth, offering women and vulnerable groups the financial opportunities they deserve.

The Minister expressed confidence that such an approach would contribute to building tenacity among small and medium enterprises in order to expand the private sector and ensure their sustainability.

The Minister also called for a stronger PTA bank, which would be able to facilitate investments in the transport, energy and communication infrastructure, as infrastructure was critical to unlocking productivity in the labour intensive sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and tourism sectors.

“The PTA Bank is poised to grow on a positive trajectory to best serve the development and financing needs of the public and private sectors in our region, “said Minister Chikwanda.

Speaking at the same function, Dr. Debre Tsion Gabre Michael, Deputy Prime Minister [Economic Clusters] of Ethiopia said the establishment of the PTA Bank was a

grand vision for consolidating regional integration and financial soundness of the east and southern African region.

“PTA Bank should rise to the occasion to meet the demand and expectations of the public and private sector in member states.

“There is also need to scale up interventions in all member state economies with special focus on project and trade transactions which have a developmental effect on cross boarder and regional integration activities.

Minister Chikwanda also took time to solicit support for the incoming Chairperson of the PTA Bank board of governors, Sufian Ahmed, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Zambia hosted the last annual meeting, held in Lusaka in December 2012. During Zambia’s Chairmanship, the PTA Bank approved a five-year corporate plan for the period 2013 to 2017. The plan targets the provision of strategic direction as the PTA Bank consolidates its recent phenomenal performance to build a strong financial institution to propel the region into the future.

Other milestones during Zambia’s tenure as Chairman have been as follows;

1. Interim financial results for the period January to June, 2013, the PTA Bank has continued with the strong performance recorded in 2011 and 2012;

2. The balance sheet has strengthened;

3. Profitability has risen while the proportion of non–performing loans has declined;

4. Numerous innovations and reforms to enhance efficiency and competitiveness of the PTA Bank were implemented.