Lusaka: Government says the 10 % appreciation of the Kwacha against the dollar is an indication that the investor community still has confidence in the country's investment climate under the Patriotic front administration. Deputy Minister of Finance Miles Sampa says even the government decision to come up with a statutory instrument to ban the use of the dollar in the local transactions is meant to strengthen the Kwacha against the major foreign currencies.
Mr. Sampa has however noted the need for the government for the appreciation of the Kwacha to be monitored to prevent the currency from becoming too strong against the dollar.
The minister adds that a very strong Kwacha would make Zambia's exports expensive a situation he says would affect the performance of the local industries which export goods to other countries.
Mr. Sampa was speaking during the launch of the National Strategy on Financial education for Zambia in Lusaka this morning. Mr. Sampa observed there is need for financial education to be promoted to enable the citizens acquire good financial management skills that will impact positively on the country's economic development.
Earlier Bank of Zambia deputy governor of operations Bwalya Ng'andu noted that access to financial services in the country still among the adult population stands at only 37.3% adding that there is need for more people to begin accessing such services.
Dr. Ng'andu adds that there is financial literacy among the people of Zambia to be scaled up adding that financial sector development plan also seeks to improve among other things to develop a rural finance policy and strategy to increase access to financial services to the rural population.
And minister of Education Dr. John Phiri observed that the Ministry of Education is also working on modalities that will ensure that financial education is incorporated into the country's education system.
