we can mark a significant milestone towards achieving the objective of the project as we disseminate the results of the baseline survey. the survey results not only give us the situation analysis regarding the availability of supply - side sexdisaggregated data, but also provides a synopsis of the magnitude of the financial inclusion gender gap, which we must all work hard to bridge. ladies and gentlemen, the main purpose of collecting sex - disaggregated data is to determine the levels of access, usage and quality of financial services ; identify barriers to women financial inclusion ; and assist with modifying the existing policies, strategies and regulatory measures that have been earmarked for increasing women ’ s financial inclusion in the medium to long term in zambia. collection of sex disaggregated data and the use of this data provides an opportunity for countries to develop policies that specifically target women ’ s financial inclusion and at the same time provides data and information for financial service providers to build the business case for developing products and services for women. data will help us to know where we are, where we need to be and which areas to focus on. thus the main objective of the project we embarked on last year is to establish a framework for collection of reliable, quality and comparable sex - disaggregated data that can facilitate the measurement of progress made toward closing the gender gap. distinguished guests, let me highlight the key findings from the survey, which will be the subject of detailed discussion in the course of this morning. the survey revealed among others that ; 1. while the financial sector was among the sectors that employ a high percentage of women, they make up 45 % of those employed in the sector, presenting a five percentage gender gap. this gap is especially pronounced in the upper echelons of decision - making structures where women make up 28 % of board membership and a third of senior management with limited participation beyond marketing positions ; 2. the number of borrowers was dominated by men. the number of men with loan accounts in every 1, 000 adults was 27 at the end of 2014 compared to 12 for women ; 3. when it comes to paying back of loans, women had better repayment behaviour than men. the percentage of non - performing loans for women averaged 4. 3 % compared to 4. 9 % for men. further, women - owned small business accounts exhibited the lowest percentage of nonperforming loans, which ranged between 1 - 3 % during this period. this is, on average,

. ladies and gentlemen, these findings must be an important ingredient in the design and implementation of the framework for collecting and analyzing sex – disaggregated data. as i conclude, i wish to thank you all for attending this workshop and hope that you will use this opportunity to delve into the survey findings, the reasons behind the findings, and recommend appropriate response measures that will shape the framework to facilitate information based policies for bridging the financial inclusion gender gap. it is now my honor and privilege to officially open the workshop and i wish you fruitful deliberations. i thank you and god bless! 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches