Madam Chairperson, with respect to its organisational and functional structure, the Bank has overtime undergone modifications to suite its role as a monetary and supervisory authority. In addition, structural changes have been necessitated by the continuously changing demands along with changes in the economy and especially in the dynamic financial markets. From a handful of departments at inception currently, the Bank comprises the following core departments, Economics, Financial Markets, Bank Supervision, Non-bank Financial Institutions Supervision, Banking, Currency and Payment Systems, and the Regional Office in Ndola. The support departments include Procurement and Maintenance, Finance, Bank Secretariat, Human Resources, Information Technology and Internal Audit as well as a Security Division. In order to streamline the operations of the Bank and improve its performance, a performance agreement system for employees was introduced in 1995. This was meant to bring about a new work culture with emphasis on professionalism, based on the philosophy, “The BoZ Way means Action”. Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, since the 1996 Bank of Zambia Amendment Act, the Bank has continued to enjoy operational autonomy with regard to the formulation and implementation of monetary policies and attainment of relative financial system stability. The ability of the Bank to continually meet quantitative benchmarks set by Government and cooperating partners, can be attributed to the focus of its monetary policy on creating a stable macroeconomic environment as a precondition for sustainable economic growth.

Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, this Anniversary marks 40 years of dynamic transformations and achievements accomplished by the Bank. Some of the challenging issues that the Bank has confronted in the past and likely to do so in the future form part of the selected topics of Papers to be presented and discussed at this Conference. This conference is therefore expected to provide a platform for sharing ideas required for practical solutions aimed at improving the Bank’s deliverables. In doing so, however, we must be cognisant of global trends in central banking. Madam Chairperson, since its establishment in 1964, the Bank of Zambia has played an important role in the economy by formulating and implementing monetary, regulatory and supervisory policies in its quest for price stability. Over this period, progress has been made towards the deepening of financial markets, specifically in the areas of monetary policy management, and the foreign exchange market. In addition, substantial improvements to the legislative and regulatory frameworks for banks and financial institutions have been attained. Ladies and Gentlemen, during the pre-liberalisation period from 1964 to 1991, monetary policy was largely characterised by administrative controls on interest rates and the exchange rate. Although the Banking Act of 1965 was created to enable the implementation of monetary policy, in the preliberalization era monetary policy involved multiple objectives, such as, financing agriculture and parastatal companies, and providing guarantees for export marketing, which at times presented the Bank with conflicting roles as a monetary authority.