by world renowned rating agencies standards and poor and fitch, as well as, the reclassification of zambia as a middle income country by the world bank. the rating and reclassification requires the central bank, the zambian business community and government to continue enhancing the financial system to ensure that it is robust and reaches the unbanked. ladies and gentlemen, the product that is being launched today, demonstrates the way businesses are evolving to bring forth financial solutions that benefit customers. this service provides an important avenue for harnessing resources for financing development in our bis central bankers ’ speeches communities as airtel will partner with various stakeholders in different sectors of the economy. this will further enhance the development of the telecoms sector and its contribution to our economy. therefore, i wish to commend airtel for introducing this product which is expected to contribute towards bridging the gap in financial service provision by catering for customers in remote areas who have no access to banking services. the product is expected to extend the financial inclusion agenda in that it will be far reaching thereby impacting positively on the zambian public. i am also informed that the product is expected to reduce the use of cash in the economy. as you may be aware, the bank of zambia has been working towards reducing the use of cash in the economy by encouraging the use of alternative electronic means of payment such as the product being launched today. it is initiatives and innovations like airtel money that will make it possible for the general public to have alternative methods of transacting other than cash and other transnational payment instruments. to this end, i wish to mention that the bank of zambia with other stakeholders is in the process of putting in place a national switch that will further enhance initiatives such as this one whose launch we are witnessing today. ladies and gentlemen, the bank of zambia will continue to support any efforts and innovations by the private sector that extend the provision of financial services to the majority of our citizens. i look forward to seeing the product being launched today live up to the expectations of providing a safe, efficient, secure and reliable service to the zambian people. i hope that all customers will enjoy using the airtel money service. with these few remarks, i wish to declare airtel money officially launched and wish it all the success. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

system itself will shape eventual outcomes. our analysis shows that tighter credit conditions imposed on a widespread and persistent basis by the banking system would lead to worse macro - financial outcomes than would otherwise be the case. banks should use the extraordinary policy support being provided to maintain a sustainable supply of credit to businesses and households through the recovery. so, uncertainty remains high, but the benefits of resilience built up in recent years is most evident now. among the factors that led to the better starting position as we entered the covid - shock is the enhanced policy framework that has been put in place in recent years, covering prudential supervision, recovery and resolution, and macroprudential policy. today we are announcing the outcomes of our latest regular reviews of our macroprudential tools. before turning to the mortgage measures, i would note that the countercyclical capital buffer ( ccyb ) rate remains at zero per cent. given the current outlook, we do not expect to announce a change in the ccyb rate through 2021. we are giving explicit guidance on this because we want to provide as much clarity as possible to banks and facilitate the usability of those buffers. just to emphasise, again : buffers that have been appropriately built up in recent years are now there to be used to absorb losses and support the economy through this period of uncertainty. i will focus my policy remarks on the outcome of the annual mortgage measures review. the mortgage measures have the twin objectives of strengthening borrower and lender resilience and reducing the likelihood of an adverse credit - house price spiral emerging. this year the review focused on understanding the impact of the covid - 19 shock on the housing and mortgage markets. it drew on extensive analysis and stakeholder engagement on the effectiveness of the measures. at our most recent meeting, the commission of the central bank agreed that the measures – as currently designed and calibrated – continue to meet their objectives and decided that they will remain unchanged for 2021. the implications of the covid - 19 shock continue to feed into housing demand, supply, market activity and prices. housing supply is likely to remain below pre - pandemic levels, and indeed below estimates of medium - term demand, for an extended period. house price developments have been relatively stable and market expectations are tilted toward minimal change over the next year. housing transactions and mortgage activity have recovered since the summer, but still have some way to go to reach pre - pandemic levels. that