By JAMES KUNDA-
THE Bank of Zambia (BoZ) and the Financial Sector Deepening Zambia (FSD Zambia) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) committing to work together to increase financial inclusion.
The FSD Zambia was established by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), to support Zambia’s efforts towards achieving financial inclusion.
According to a statement made available by the FSD Zambia secretariat, the partnership with the Central Bank will help achieve the objective of a stable, diversified and inclusive financial sector in Zambia.
“The Zambian economy has grown significantly over the past decade and the Government has been committed to reforming the financial sector by increasing financial access through a number of initiatives,” reads the statement.
A survey conducted in 2005 showed a relatively low level of financial inclusion with 33.7 per cent of Zambians being financially included.
In 2009, another study was conducted and showed that financial inclusion increased by 3.6 per cent from 33.7 per cent of adults in 2005 to 37.3 per cent.
A follow up survey is envisaged in the second half of 2014, whilst the World Bank’s Global Financial Inclusion study of 2014, due to be released in 2015 indicates a further increase in the number of financially included people.
The national target is to have at least 50 per cent of the Zambian population financially included by end 2015.
“One reason for the low level of financial inclusion is the high cost of providing financial services which results in limited investment opportunities and small transaction amounts.
Thus, it is necessary for financial institutions to lower costs of products and services on the market to enable consumers to use them,” the statement stated.