Denny H Kalyalya: Protect your money, secure your future
Speech by Dr Denny H Kalyalya, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, at the Launch of the
2024 Financial Literacy Week, Lusaka, 18 March 2024.
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The Minister of Finance and National Planning, Hon Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane, MP,
represented by the Permanent Secretary for Economic and Financial Management, Mr.
Denies Chisenda
The Permanent Secretary for Technical Services, Ministry of Education, Mr. Joel
Kamoko
All Senior Governmental officials, present
The Chief Executive Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Phillip Chitalu
The Registrar of Pensions and Insurance Authority, Mrs Namakau Ntini
The Chairperson of the Bankers Association of Zambia, Ms Lowani Chibesakunda
All Chief Executive Officers of Financial Services Providers
All Cooperating partners
Boys and Girls
Distinguished Invited Guests
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good morning
I am pleased to extend a warm welcome to you all for joining us for this year's launch of
the public awareness campaign for the Financial Literacy Week activities, scheduled for
18 to 24 March 2024.
The campaign will be marked by a variety of activities, such as, public exhibitions,
debates, and media programmes that will be conducted by financial institutions and
stakeholder partners in all the ten Provinces of our country.
Distinguished Guests, the theme for this year, "Protect Your Money, Secure Your
Future," aligns with the official theme for Global Money Week 2024 and has been
adopted by Financial Literacy Week in Zambia. This theme emphasises the importance
of adopting a responsible and security-conscious approach to managing personal
finances, by being mindful of potential risks in the financial sector and safeguarding
one's hard-earned money. These risks include financial scams that include fraud,
pyramid schemes, cyber-attacks, and identity theft. Limited financial literacy and
awareness about safe usage of digital financial services increase the likelihood of
individuals falling victim to these risks. With the increased usage of Digital Financial
Services, financial scams have also increased.
As financial sector regulators and services providers, we are obliged to disseminate
information about the risks that may be associated with different types of services and
products in order to increase public awareness on how to save, borrow, and invest
financial resources safely in an increasingly digitised environment. Therefore, I urge
financial service providers and stakeholders to join the 'Go Cashless' campaign, which
the BoZ will continue to conduct this year, aimed at scaling up the safe usage of digital
financial services in the country.
in accordance with this year's theme, we would like to implore
Ladies and Gentlemen,
consumers of financial services and products to take a keen interest in safeguarding
their money by engaging with licensed financial institutions. In recent years, the Bank of
Zambia has observed a rise in the number of individuals who have fallen victim to
promoters of money circulation schemes, resulting in the loss of their hard earned
income and jeopardising their future. This trend is deeply concerning. The general
public is therefore urged to be vigilant and report all suspicious financial institutions to
law enforcement agencies. At the same time we want warn all fraudsters that the law
will catch up with them.
Esteemed Guests, we firmly believe that the development and execution of national
strategies on financial education and inclusion have established a robust framework
that facilitates effective engagement among various stakeholders, including
Government, financial sector regulators, financial service providers, and the private
sector. This collaborative effort has led to various initiatives to heighten awareness
among the public regarding the availability and safe usage of financial products and
services nationwide.
An important milestone to note is the publication of financial education supplementary
books for students in Grades 1 to 12, which have been integrated into the school
curriculum and translated into 7 local languages for Grades 1 to 4. These books were
developed through a collaborative effort by the Ministry of Finance and National
Planning, the Curriculum Development Centre under the Ministry of Education, the
Bank of Zambia, and other key stakeholders with the objective of providing our future
generations with the essential knowledge about making well-informed financial
decisions for their financial well-being. Today, we will witness the official launch of the
supplementary books.
the Finscope 2020 Survey, revealed
Distinguished Guests, as we have said before
that there has been an increase in overall financial inclusion in Zambia from 37.3% in
2009 to 69.4% in 2020. However, despite the increase, it has been observed that
awareness levels regarding financial products and services remains low in rural areas.
According to the findings of the 2022 Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Finance
Survey, awareness levels regarding financial products and infrastructure tend to be
higher among business owners in urban areas compared to those in rural areas. For
example, the awareness level for business loans was 69.7 percent in urban areas
compared to 59.1 percent in rural areas. Similarly, awareness of property insurance
stood at 49.7 percent in urban areas in contrastto 27.8 percent in rural areas.
Additionally, awareness of micro-credit was at 40.4 percent in urban areas, while it was
at 27.6 percent in rural areas.
Given this challenge, I would like to encourage financial service providers to consider,
among other measures, employing the agency model for the provision of financial
services to people in rural districts that lack physical presence of commercial banks or
financial service providers. The Bank of Zambia and the Ministry of Finance and
National Planning have embarked on enhancing rural financial inclusion by promoting
the use of public institutions, such as, health centres for the provision of financial
services. In this regard, the General Access Point Inspection Report provides detailed
insights into the location and adequacy of the health centres for setting up office space.
This report is readily available for reference on the BoZ website (www.boz.zm).
Ladies and Gentlemen, please be reminded that as part of the National Strategy for
Financial Education, the Financial Literacy Awards are held annually in October. The
objective of these awards is to recognise the efforts made by individuals and institutions
to reach out to the public through financial literacy awareness initiatives. In this regard, I
urge you to submit your portfolio of financial literacy activities and initiatives to the
Financial Literacy Working Group for consideration for this year's awards.
As I conclude, please allow me to extend my sincere gratitude to the Working Group
under the National Strategy on Financial Education Phase II for organising the Financial
Literacy Week. I particularly commend the Ministry of Finance and National Planning
Financial Education Team, our other fellow financial sector regulators (the Pensions
and Insurance Authority and the Securities and Exchange Commission), the Bankers
Association of Zambia, and our collaborating partners DSIK (the German
Sparkassenstiftung) Zambia, Financial Sector Deepening Zambia, and all other
stakeholders who have consistently supported the Financial Literacy Week
commemorations each year.
The Bank of Zambia remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting this national
event, and we encourage all financial institutions and stakeholders to actively
participate and continue conducting financial literacy activities nationwide throughout
the year.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. GOD BLESS!