Zambia’s banking sector attracts investments despite global recession

The governor of the Bank of Zambia, Caleb Fundanga, on Wednesday said that the financial sector was set to grow further despite the gloomy economic picture the country was facing.

Zambia has been hit by an economic crisis as a result of crashing copper prices on world markets, with nearly all the country’s foreign exchange earnings coming from the metal.

But Fundanga told journalists in the capital Lusaka that the picture was not all gloomy as foreign investors in the financial sector were still interested in investing in the country.

He said two major foreign banks had just been issued by the central bank with licences and were expected to commence operations soon.

He said the central bank would continue focusing on bringing down the rate of inflation which had continued on the rise towards the end of 2008 because of rising fuel prices.

Fundanga also said the central bank wanted to see banks make their services more affordable to the Zambian population.

He observed that one of the major drawbacks for Zambian customers was that they were unable to access services such as personal loans because interest rates continued to be prohibitive.