• Bank of Zambia currency account manager Stanley Siame explains how bank notes can be replaced at the central bank’s stand at the show ground in Ndola. Picture by KENNEDY MUPESENI

By CHATULA KANGALI –
THE Bank Of Zambia (BOZ) has said that it is working on introducing a minimum capital requirement for businesses that are engaged in mobile money transfer services.
The country has in the recent past seen an increasing number of mobile money transfers.
Some of the mobile money transfer systems include the Zambia Postal Services Corporation (ZAMPOST) Swift Cash, Shoprite Money, Zoona Investment,  Airtel and MTN money.
BOZ director for economics Francis Chipimo said that the cash transfer systems were regulated by the central bank under the Payment System Act of 2007.
He said BoZ was currently conducting onsite inspection of the payment system businesses.
“Currently there is no minimum capital requirement for mobile money, we are looking forward to enhancing the regulation when the number of players increase on the market,” he said.
Mr Chipimo said this in an interview after a media tour of the stand at the on-going Zambia International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Ndola.
He said BoZ did not put in a place a minimum capital requirement for mobile money transfer services so as to promote financial inclusion in the country.
BoZ financial services director Emmanuel Pamu said that the Zambian economy was still strong and that the country had $2.5 million in international reserves.
He said the international reserves had been fluctuating over the years.
Dr Pamu said that the central bank was hopeful that the country’s inflation rate which is currently around 20 per cent, would hit a single digit in the last quarter of this year.