Bank of Zambia reiterates funding for SMEs, says they are key contributors of economic growth

The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) says it will play its role in putting in place regulatory measures that will encourage funding to Small and Medium enterprise (SMEs) while emphasising good risk management practices to uphold financial stability.

Acting Assistant Director-Examinations and Surveillance Bank Supervision Department, Beatrice Kalale, stated that the provision of finance to the productive sector including SMEs could not be over emphasised.

SMEs, she pointed out in an interview on Wednesday in Lusaka, remained a key contributor to growth, employment creation and would accelerate poverty reduction.

“Increasing funding to SMEs is also an objective of the government and an area that the Central Bank is paying particular attention to,” Kalale said.

It was her expectation, therefore, that the financial sector would continue to support the overall financial inclusion objective by providing quality and affordable financial services and products.

She encouraged financial service providers to continue providing solutions that were tailor made to the needs of the various categories of customers.

According to Kalale, this was specially to sectors of the community that had been excluded and disadvantaged for a long time such as SMEs and women.

“The Bank of Zambia will play its role in putting in place regulatory measures that will encourage funding to SMEs while emphasising good risk management practices to uphold financial stability,” she said.

Meanwhile, Kalale observed that not everyone had access to internet banking, making the brick and motar still important.

She said the expansion of physical branches was a realisation that not everyone was at the same level.

“Physical presence is, therefore, still important even as we strive to carry everyone along and capture the unbanked.

“We still have a segment of a population that is not able, or not yet comfortable to transact through mobile banking,” Kalale concluded.

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