The tours focused on the following topical areas: –  The role and functions of the BoZ;  –  The need to deal with licensed financial institutions;  –  Getting credit; and  –  The operations of a credit reference bureau. 47. The BoZ is planning to conduct the tours on a regular basis to address public misconceptions about the role of the BoZ in the financial sector. Future tours will also educate the public on how to detect genuine currency and how to invest in Government securities. The BoZ was requested to publish the names of licensed financial service providers in the print media on a more regular basis. Developments in banking, currency and payment systems 48. During the quarter under review, there was a continued improvement in the availability of electronic payment options. The number of Point of Sale (POS) terminals increased by 8.3% to 1,119 (third quarter 2010: 1,033). The volume of POS transactions also increased by 42.2% to 284,145 (third quarter 2010: 199,817). Similarly, the values of POS transactions increased by 32.6% to K113.9 billion (third quarter 2010: K85.9 billion). The  6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Bank would like to urge members of the public to use Point of Sale terminals as they provide a more convenient, safer, efficient and cost effective way of making payments. 49. Further, the number of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) increased by 4.5% to 489 ATMs (third quarter 2010: 468).
On a sectoral basis, pledges in manufacturing were US $ million, real estate (US $ million), agro-processing (US $ million), services (US $ million), agriculture (US $ million), tourism (US $ million), construction (US $ million), ICT (US $ million), and mining (US $ million). 27. The pledges when fully executed are expected to generate 22,532 jobs (1,726 jobs: third quarter 2010) with the highest contribution from services at 12,763 jobs followed by agro-processing at 5,860 jobs. The rest were manufacturing (1,882 jobs), construction (847 jobs), agriculture (397 jobs), tourism (343 jobs), real estate (247 jobs), ICT (157 jobs) and mining (14 jobs). 28. Investment pledges for the year 2010 increased by 138.6% to US $ million from US $ million recorded in 2009. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 3 29. Preliminary estimates indicate that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose by 7.1% in 2010 from 6.4% in 2009. This outturn was well above the target of 5% announced by the Minister of Finance and National Planning in his 2010 Budget Speech. 30. The GDP outturn was largely attributed to the growth in the agricultural, construction and mining sectors.   The 2010 agricultural harvest was the highest recorded in history, having produced over 2.8 million mt of maize; while the mining sector also benefitted from higher copper prices and production levels.   The growth in the construction sector emanated from increased residential, commercial and public infrastructure construction projects across the country by both Government and the private sector. 2  Lusaka, Livingstone, Mfuwe and Ndola.