The survey findings indicated that agricultural activities still remained a major source of income for most Zambians but that this sector was largely under-served by financial service providers. The survey findings also showed that there was an increase in the number and types of banking services and products but that the uptake had remained unchanged as the focus of financial service providers appeared to be serving the same market, as opposed to enhancing financial inclusion. Overall, there was a marginal increase of 3.6 percentage points in financial access to 37.3% in 2009 from 33.7% in 2005. Developments in banking, currency and payment systems During the quarter, there was a continued improvement in the availability of electronic payment options. The number of Point of Sale (POS) terminals increased by 3.8% to 1,033 terminals (Quarter 2, 2010: 995). The volume of POS transactions also increased by 15% to 199,817 (Quarter 2, 2010: 173,606) while the values increased by 13% to K86 billion (Quarter 2, 2010: K76 billion). The number of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) increased by 4% to 468 ATMs (Quarter 2 2010: 450). The volume of ATM transactions also increased by 11% to 6,333,073 (Quarter 2 2010: 5,697,122) while the value increased by 16% to K2,898 billion (Quarter 2 2010: K2,498 billion). The Bank would like to continue urging the public to use electronic payment methods as they provide a more convenient, safer, efficient and effective way of making payments.
On an annual basis, M3 growth increased to 32.0% in September 2010 from 27.7% in June 2010. This outturn was due to the rise in NDA by 96.9% (June 2010, rose by 58.2%) primarily on account of increased lending to government. However, the NFA fell by 9.8% compared with a fall of 1.2% recorded in June 2010. Excluding foreign currency deposits that grew by 29.8% (June 2010, fell by 5.9%), money supply growth was 33.2% from the 49.0% recorded in June 2010. Total domestic credit, comprehensively defined to include foreign currency loans, increased by 3.1% at end-September 2010 compared with 10.1% growth registered in the second quarter of 2010. This was mainly due to a 4.4% rise in net claims on central government that contributed 1.7 percentage points to the growth in domestic credit. Similarly, lending to the private sector (including public enterprises) grew by 2.2% and contributed 1.4 percentage points to the total domestic credit outturn. Excluding foreign currency denominated credit, which fell by 4.1%, domestic credit increased by 5.2% compared to the 7.5% registered in June 2010. On an annual basis, domestic credit growth at 13.5% in September 2010 was 10.1 percentage points lower than 23.6% recorded in June 2010. This largely reflected a slowdown in credit to the private sector, including public enterprises, to 0.7% compared with the 25.9% growth recorded in June 2010. This outturn contributed 0.4 percentage points to the total domestic credit growth in the quarter under review.