To give you a brief background on the central bank legislation, since its inception in 1964 the Bank has operated under 3 different Bank of Zambia Acts; the BoZ Act of 1965, the BoZ Act of 1985 and the current BoZ Act of 1996. Each of these Acts has responded to the era of its time. For example, the Acts of 1965 and 1985 were characterised by high Government involvement in the operations of the Bank. The Bank administered exchange control regulations. It also determined and regulated the frequency and rates of fees, commissions and interest rates etc charged by financial institutions. The economic reforms that swept the country in the 1990’s saw the ushering in of the current BoZ Act of 1996 which supported the Government’s free market policies. The Bank’s mandate was made clearer, exchange control regulations were suspended and the Bank’s regulation of interest rates etc was removed. There was also improved transparency and accountability. Since the enactment of the BoZ Act of 1996 two issues have precipitated the need to have the Act reviewed again; 1. In 2002, the IMF and the World Bank conducted a joint assessment of Zambia’s financial sector under the Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP). The result of this assessment raised awareness of various weaknesses in our financial system which needed to be addressed. For this purposes, the Government approved the establishment of the Financial Sector Development Plan (FSDP) in 2004 to address these weaknesses and implement recommendations.
Tukiya Kankasa-Mabula: Stakeholder’s workshop on the draft Bank of Zambia Act Opening remarks by Dr Tukiya Kankasa-Mabula, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Zambia, at the Stakeholder’s Workshop on the Draft Bank of Zambia Act, Lusaka, 21 September 2010. *  *  *  Chief Executive Officers and Representatives of Stakeholder Institutions; Distinguished Invited Guests; Directors and Staff of the Bank of Zambia; Members of the Press; Ladies and Gentlemen. On behalf of the Bank of Zambia, and indeed on my own behalf, I welcome you to this workshop which is entitled “the Stakeholder’s Workshop on the Draft Bank of Zambia Act”. As the name rightly suggests, it is a workshop facilitating the meeting of minds of key stakeholders affected by the Bank of Zambia Act. On the one hand we have those administering the Act, the Bank of Zambia representatives and on the other hand those whose operations stand to be affected by the administration of the Act, the Financial Service Providers. We have also cast the net wide to include other key stakeholders such as Government ministries, other regulatory entities and professional bodies representing lawyers, accountants and economists. The Bank of Zambia is charged with the responsibility of formulating and implementing monetary and supervisory policies that achieve and maintain price stability and promote financial system stability in the Republic of Zambia.