Finally, Ladies and Gentlemen allow me to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Bank of Tanzania, and Standard Bank Malawi Limited for releasing officials from their institutions to facilitate in this workshop. I wish you all the best during the workshop and your stay in Blantyre. With these remarks, I declare this workshop officially OPENED. Thank you.
The monetary policy framework was basic, the central bank used to set credit ceilings for each bank and also decided on bank lending rates. In fact, banks were directed to focus on lending to agriculture at 2 percentage points below base rate. The foregoing macroeconomic policy framework paid off in terms increased agricultural productivity and diversification.