It is a centrally located country with eight neighbouring countries and close proximity to the large market of South Africa, a surface area of over 750,000 sq km, and an approximate population of over 11 million people. It also boasts of a suitable climate, peace and a multi-party competitive democratic political system. The country possesses all the necessary attributes for sustainable economic growth and development. Competitive production costs, incentives, and reforms have also enhanced the attractive investment climate for both local and foreign investors. Numerous investment opportunities exist amongst the agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and mining sectors across various regions of the country. Almost all provinces in Zambia remain potential areas of investment whose resources remain largely untapped. Its active participation in the SADC Trade protocol and the COMESA/FTA offers preferential tariff access to market potential of nearly 380 million people. The Zambian Development Agency (ZDA) Act ensures that property rights are fully respected with full compensation on market value made in case of expropriation. The country is also a signatory to the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank which guarantees foreign investment protection in cases of disasters and other disturbances. Bilateral investment treaties with a number of countries also encourage, promote and protect foreign investment. Foreign investors seeking joint venture partners can approach ZDA which registers investors together with project profiles of domestic investors seeking collaboration.
It has highlighted the importance of improving our knowledge and assessment of interconnectedness in the financial system, both via the direct links between financial institutions and the indirect ones created in financial markets. Micro-supervisory assessment, institution by institution, typically investigates the vulnerability of each entity, under various assumptions of stress. In contrast, systemic risk assessment investigates the possibility of the whole system, or significant parts of it, being vulnerable, and considers that major risks may emerge from the financial system itself. Such risks may arise, for example, because large parts of the system might have similar exposures, may rely on the same funding sources, can be exposed to rising financial imbalances, may comprehend large similar currency or maturity mismatches inducing liquidity vulnerabilities, and can be exposed to large scale underassessment and mis-pricing of risks. In the assessment of the systemic risk of the financial system itself, the judgement on the robustness of financial infrastructures is particularly important. One important issue in assessing systemic risks is to measure the degree of procyclicality which is embedded in the financial system itself, namely the capacity of the system to amplify fluctuations and to produce after a certain period of time, excessive booms and busts starting from relatively modest initial shocks, up or down.