Thursday, March 28, 2024

FDD salutes Bank of Zambia’s timely allocation of K10 billion to Commercial banks

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The Forum for Democracy and Development has saluted the timely decision taken by the Bank of Zambia to allocate K10 billion to commercial banks and other financial institutions to enable Small and Medium Enterprises to access credit facilities from these institutions at a reduced interest rate.

Party spoke Yotam Mtayachalo says this will revive businesses that have greatly been affected by the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Mtayachalo has however expressed concern that small businesses, especially in rural areas, have had difficulties in accessing credit facilities due to a number of challenges among them few or non-availabilities of credible lending institutions and issues of collateral just to mention but a few and stand to lose out a great deal as opposed to their colleagues in urban areas.

He has appealed to financial institutions and the central bank to ensure that these resources are fairly allocated to all districts so that they can be accessed fairly by all deserving beneficiaries because rural-based Small and Medium Enterprises involved in Agro-processing are very critical in job creation and economic emancipation and therefore must be supported if they have to grow into large business undertakings.

Further, Mr. Mtayachalo said financial institutions should also relax stringent conditions attached to acquisitions of these loans especially on issues of collateral because many rural business undertakings do not have title deeds on their properties hence accessing credit facilities remains a tall order or a pipe dream.

He said the government should also come up with a deliberate policy by offering incentives to indigenous financial institutions which also operate in rural areas such as the National Savings and Credit Bank so that many rural-based industries can benefit from credit facilities at reasonable interest rates.

Mr. Mtayachalo said the COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly continues to inflict a huge toll on human life and the global economy nevertheless it has also provided a window of opportunity for Zambia and Africa at large to seize this opportunity and support Agro-businesses and other homegrown manufacturing industries to boost industrial development.

He said it is very unfortunate that the well-intended establishment of some lending financial institutions by the UNIP government such as the Development Bank of Zambia was meant to promote the country’s industrial development but such institutions have failed to achieve their intended objectives because most often they offer credit facilities to the elite at the expense of local SMEs.

“It is our desire to see a situation where the majority of deserving Zambians benefit from the K10bn credit facility offloaded on the financial market by the central bank as a way of empowering Zambians economically amidst covid19 instead of Zambians being used as fronts of foreigner nationals if the country has to create the much-needed wealth at the household level for the local people hence uplifting the majority of our people out of perpetual jaws of poverty which is more pronounced in rural areas”, he said.

6 COMMENTS

  1. Dear sir
    Have you been in contact with any commercial bank who actually have this money to disburse If so please let us know as banks are implying they know nothing
    Thank you

  2. Huge reputations, minions and dimwits have nothing to offer except support and sup typical of a parasite an institution leaving it dry.
    When you have former wound dresser at a clinic to a State house political advisor, then people will know what parasites can do – ravage their hoist to nothing and take over (hoist dead) like coronavirus and begin to masquerade as a sensible individual – However, Zambians know who and what KZ has done to them.

  3. “It is our desire to see a situation where the majority of deserving Zambians benefit from the K10bn credit facility offloaded on the financial market by the central bank as a way of empowering Zambians economically”

    More debt. Debt for everyone. More market based solutions.

    The problem is still not sinking in. 3 decades of supply side economics have led to the collapse of demand. People were already working multiple jobs. Now millions are out of work completely. And the neoliberal robots are still trying to stimulate supply with more debt.

    Solution: give people money with which to buy stuff. That’s people – not banks, not businesses, people. It will be a transfer of resources from the elites to the people. Moderate if any inflation will be limited to consumer goods and…

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