Given the improved economic performance, it has become necessary to re-align and configure our currency in line with macroeconomic fundamentals. The currency rebasing exercise will have implications on businesses in the economy including changes to accounting software, tax aspects, ATMs, cash registers, etc. The success of the currency rebasing exercise will largely depend on our partnership with the commercial banks. Ladies and gentlemen, as you will note all these measures are aimed at improving efficiency conduct of business in our economy and commercial banks have a very crucial role to play in all these. The expectation is that all of you represented here will support the central bank to ensure that collectively, we build a financial sector that is modern and responsive to the needs of our economy. Chairperson, as a central bank, we will continue to foster an environment where dialogue between all key stakeholders can be promoted both at individual bank level as well as at Industry level. Despite the policy changes embarked on, there remains a lot to be done in the areas of financial inclusion, financial education and consumer protection in the banking  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  industry. In this regard, the Bank of Zambia has developed branchless banking frameworks and a national strategy for financial education in partnership with other stakeholders. As a regulator, we are committed to ensure an open and competitive banking environment.
In a separate press release, the committee explains how the formulations may be interpreted. The Federal Reserve does not publish a traditional inflation report like the Bank of England’s with projections of future developments. However, in connection with the Chairman’s semi-annual testimony to Congress, estimates are given of probable ranges for GDP growth, consumer price inflation and unemployment. The minutes of Committee meetings are published after six weeks, and disclose the way individual members have voted. A complete transcript of proceedings is released after five years. Members express individual views on monetary policy. Norges Bank analyses the inflation outlook in separate inflation reports which are published three times a year. Further assessments regarding the inflation outlook are presented every six weeks in connection with the monetary policy meetings at which the Executive Board sets interest rates. Central aspects of the modelling tools and our view of the functioning of the economy are examined in detail in the Inflation Report and in articles in the journal Penger og Kreditt and its English counterpart Economic Bulletin. The minutes of monetary policy meetings are not published. The Executive Board functions as a unified group in relation to the public. In Canada and New Zealand, responsibility lies with the central bank governor, and therefore only one view is expressed. In the ECB, Australia, Switzerland and Norway, the decision-making body speaks to the public with one voice. Like Norway, Australia includes external members in the body that makes decisions regarding the interest rate.