Bank of Zambia (BoZ) Governor, Michael Gondwe, says the Kwacha has been stronger than other currencies since May, this year.
Dr Ngondwe attributed the strength of the Kwacha to more exports than fewer imports outside and inside the country.
Dr Gondwe disclosed that the South African Rand and India’s Rupee depreciated by 16 per cent to leave room to the local currency, the Kwacha, to trade to a peak and appreciate.
He was speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka.
“The Kwacha has been strongest since May, this year. Our currency strengthened because the economy is performing extremely well. You may be aware that even the South African and India’s Rupees depreciated by 16% in May to-date,” Dr Gondwe said.
The Central Bank Chief explained that the demand on the United States Dollar had reduced, hence the Kwacha became strong.
Dr Gondwe also commended the National Savings and Credit Bank (NATSAVE) for opening a branch in Kalabo district in Western province.
The Kalabo branch coming on board becomes the 30th financial institution by NATSAVE.
Kalabo district, established in 1938, had no banking facility not until NATSAVE invested in the area to the delight of Kalabo residents.
Others opened by the same bank are Chavuma, Lufwanyama and Mpongwe.
He challenged other banks to consider opening in rural areas so that people do not travel long distances seeking financial services.
Dr Gondwe said doing so would help lower the interest rates in the country which he described as too high for the Zambian people to afford borrowing in form of loans.
Thats what`s up !!!! The type of news that attracts few comments from bloggers and opposition politicians.
That’s what’s up indeed. In fact, this should be the main story for today, other than the one with the Information Bill. Another sad part about it is that most bloggers have no desire to engage themselves in mature debate concerning such important issues that directly affect the masses but they would rather leave a barrage of skepticism and a trail of negative posts.
Capacity to understand. Many just have capacity for low level political comments. Politics is in people’s head that all they see is politics.
2016 Wynter for President and Kaseba for VP, Minister of Health, Minister of Mother Child & Whatever, Minister Without Potfolio and we’ll get her a personal plane. Sylvia will be Minister of LGH, Foreign and Defence.
Mmembe will be given 14 billion by the chinese.
…..Kwacha has strengthened? Where? Here?
Saulosi boyi! Please take care of your wife and family and cut down on blogging! Your marriage will crumble like the a house built pamuchenjenga!
@Saulos. We are around. The strong Kwacha due to declining demand for the dollar could be an indication of a slowing down economy. Investor confidence in our economy may be waning and so with less investment there is less demand for foreign exchange. In recent times Japan has been devaluing its currency to boost its exports.
Dr. Gondwe should therefore be cautious.
You seem to be blind of what is happening or may be you are deliberately blind to what is happening in Zambia now.The economic growth rate has surpassed most subsahara countries.There is more infrastructure development in Zambia now than anywhere else in southern Africa especially in the road infrastructure.Investors have expressed happiness and willingness to invest more in Zambia than was the case during the MMD era.Give credit where it is due and stop yapping!!
A strong currency is never an indication of a slowing down economy (unless you are saying our economy has just experienced a boom). What Japan has been doing is simply currency adaptation to maintain the value of the Yen in order to control the inflow of (overpriced) imports and restrict the use of foreign exchange.
HOW DOES IT APPRECIATE WHEN ITS TRADING @5400 PER DOLLAR
In the wet dreams?
There is few Kwachas buying or chasing the dollar because the government has borrowed all the kwachas on the market to for civil servants salary increases. There is less kwachas in circulation now.
Dr. Dr. Dr.
Comparing Kwacha with Rand and Rupee. Is that your benchmark or standard to say that Kwacha has gained since May? Don’t lower yourself to the standard of a politician. Stick to truth. Each economy has its own strengths and weaknesses that affects external value of its currency. Rand has been up and down in line with prices of metal. Indian Rupee has been down due to many factors- uncertain political situation, they might have general elections any time from now till March 2014, and the ruling party is tipped to lose, foreign investors are selling their holdings and taking money back home, their exports (especially of services- IT and back office) have been stagnant for some time.
Give plausible reasons for Kwacha’ s strength or weakness and what are the medium to long…
So which currency did you want Dr Gondwe to compare the Kwacha to? Let us be realistic , did you want him to compare the Kwacha to the GBP or the US$.
Compare the strength of the RB Kwacha (K4.60=$1.00) and MCS Kwacha (K5.50=$1.00) then Dr.Gondwe can convince me that his economy is doing fine.Commercial business between May,2013 and now has been too slow and hence the sluggish demand of the dollar as there is no Kwacha furiously circulating.Ours is a dormant economy. It is self deceiving to compare the Indian and South African economies to Zambian economy.
hey dr ndhlovu,
go tell those lies to grade 8s who have just began learning economics otherwise you are offside here mwana…
the kwacha is still weak against the dollar and comparing it to shillings, makuta or whatever is an exercise in futility.
@mature
you sound like you are born again
Give plausible reasons for Kwacha’ s strength or weakness and what are the medium to long term effect and outlook.
Kwacha has gone down from K4.650 in September 2011 to K5.350 in September 2013. Is Kwacha stronger now with 15% depreciation of value in two years?
Do you get a solace in others’ miseries? Tell us about our Kwacha and not Somali dollar, Zim non-existent dollar or Indian Rupee. If they messed up more than you does not mean your performance is better or we are better off?
Ba boss the strength of a currency is in relation to other currencies. you cant just take the absolute difference between the kwacha in 2011 and compare with what it is in 2013.
Dr. Dr. Dr.
Comparing Kwacha with Rand and Rupee. Is that your benchmark or standard to say that Kwacha has gained since May? Don’t lower yourself to the standard of a politician. Stick to truth. Each economy has its own strengths and weaknesses that affects external value of its currency. Rand has been up and down in line with prices of metal. Indian Rupee has been down due to many factors- uncertain political situation, they might have general elections any time from now till March 2014, and the ruling party is tipped to lose, foreign investors are selling their holdings and taking money back home, their exports (especially of services- IT and back office) have been stagnant for some time.
Give plausible reasons for Kwacha’ s strength or weakness and what are the medium to long
Comparing Kwacha with Rand and Rupee. Is that your benchmark or standard to say that Kwacha has gained since May? Don’t lower yourself to the standard of a politician. Stick to truth. Each economy has its own strengths and weaknesses that affects external value of its currency. Rand has been up and down in line with prices of metal. Indian Rupee has been down due to many factors- uncertain political situation, they might have general elections any time from now till March 2014, and the ruling party is tipped to lose, foreign investors are selling their holdings and taking money back home, their exports (especially of services- IT and back office) have been stagnant for some time.
Alabee left it at KR 4.60, now it is KR5.40 to the dollar, so there is still a lot of room to match what it was 2 years ago. Nothing to celebrate here, Ngondwe or is it Gondwe should be ashamed of himself.
i can browse zambian watchdog now in zed, what has happened? has the grz failed to pay the chinese hackers their dues?
just continue browsing your dog quietly.
whats wrong with you?
The story is so poorly written I wonder what journalism school passed the writer into the industry.
“Dr Ngondwe attributed the strength of the Kwacha to more exports than fewer imports outside and inside the country” What the heck is that?
And this: Dr Gondwe disclosed that the South African Rand and India’s Rupee depreciated by 16 per cent to leave room to the local currency, the Kwacha, to trade to a peak and appreciate.?
Not an economist but what I got in layman’s terms would be me for the first time getting 51% in Maths and doing better against the ones that get 80% and more because they messed up. Would that be the right explanation?
if the governor said this then his head is not functioning properly. before you compare kwacha and rand rebase the rand because the kwacha is rebased or unrebase the kwacha. So it is 5450ZMK to 1 usd and 10.50ZAR to 1 usd . Gondwe which currency is better. Also Cement in Gondweland is 85ZMW or 85,000ZMK how much is it in south Africa and india before you compare. I s this gondwe an economist or a grade seven dropout
….This is NOT good news for our country because it makes our goods more expensive and uncompetitive compared to South African and Idian products!! This Gondwe, my foot, is messing up our economy….and even smiling as if it’s good news when it’s the opposite!!
This chap is not fit to run even the Post Office Bank – just what’s going on pa Zed kanshi? Take him out before he does more damage to the economy!!
All Zambians have seen that the Zambian economy is on the up turn. Things are happening . Well don PF for bringing new hope in the Zambian people. Continue in the same way.
Peace and Prosperity to Mother Zambia.
Zambia has a weakening trade balance and upward trend in inflation has since July 2012 weakened the kwacha against the USD and the GBP, depreciating by 11.4 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively.The ZAR (SA rand) has been weakening since the first quarter due to the massive drop in SA’s mineral earnings.There is an increased likelihood that growth will fall below the Medium-term expenditure.The second quarter has seen an increasing overall inflationary trend with inflation rising to 7.3% at the end of June. This trend has fully eliminated the downward inflationary trend that was observed in the first quarter which was 6.6%.The crop forecast for the 2012/2013 agriculture season indicate a fall in the total maize production compared to the previous agricultural season.
I really would want to comment, but Mr Gondwe statement is too plain for me to comment on, the man has not given us the % at which our currency has appreciated, or our current inflation rates excerpt he was busy mentioning other countries currencies.Next time the man whats to yap let him come with proper figures and not this crap he has given us. Visit any Bank today and you will find the rate at k 5,400. Is this what this guy calls a strong currency?
yabako bad baBOZ. you think their are no arm chair economists in Zambia? mwazivilela. these guys cant even run a katemba and choose not to see that the kwacha has held up for some time against major currencies. we should compare our currency with SA & india since we trade with these countries for about 70%. Though am worried about it holding on for long with low maize production this year and low copper prices, may just affect our kwacha and reach K6 to a dollar by December, 2013.
bring the kwacha to 2.9 per dollar where mwanawasa left it. then we will be happy
I equally forgot to tell you that the Kwacha has equally gained against these other currencies;
1.Turkmenistan MANAT
2.Sao Tome DOBRA
3.Somali SHILLING
4. We are negotiating with US and British governments for some DOLLARS and POUNDS to flash in the economy and withdraw some kwacha in circulation so that its demand goes up…at least by tomorrow Kwacha to US dollar should be 1 to 1, am not so sure about the British pound (the Queen and David Cameron may not accept our proposal)
thats why we tax coz its your job to do
haahahahh,there is room for improvement when ever it comes to my country zambia thumbs up to the late michael chilufya sata