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,

caleb m fundanga : fourth quarter 2010 media briefing presented by dr caleb m fundanga, governor of the bank of zambia, lusaka, 18 february 2011. * * * executive summary 1. this brief examines monetary policy implementation and its outcomes in the fourth quarter of 2010. the brief also reviews other economic and financial sector developments, and concludes with an inflation outlook for the first quarter of 2011. monetary policy 2. the focus of monetary policy during the fourth quarter of 2010 continued to be the achievement of the end - year annual inflation target of 8. 0 %. in this regard, the bank of zambia utilised largely open market operations to maintain reserve money within the programmed growth path. this was supported by the auctioning of government securities. inflation 3. quarterly overall inflation increased to 2. 5 % in december 2010 from 1. 6 % in the third quarter, and was above the 2. 3 % recorded in december 2009. this outturn was mainly attributed to the rise in food inflation to 3. 6 % from – 0. 1 % in the previous quarter, as non - food inflation slowed down to 1. 5 % from 3. 2 % during the same period. 4. similarly, the annual overall inflation rate rose to 7. 9 % in december 2010 from 7. 7 % in september 2010, but was in line with the end - year target of 8. 0 %. this outturn was largely on account of the rise in annual food inflation to 4. 4 % from 2. 8 % in september 2010, as annual non - food inflation decreased to 11. 3 % from 12. 5 % during the same period. 5. food inflation increased mainly on account of price increases on cereals, selected vegetable, beef products, and fish due to seasonal supply factors. however, non - food inflation slowed down on account of the kwacha exchange rate appreciation against the us dollar during the period under review. money supply and domestic credit 6. preliminary estimates indicate that broad money ( m3 ), comprehensively defined to include foreign currency deposits, increased by 2. 5 % ( september 2010, rose by 7. 9 % ) to k18, 477. 0 billion in december 2010 from k18, 018. 4 billion in september 2010. this growth in m3 was below the quarterly projection of 3. 2 %. 7. the outturn in m3 was largely due to an increase in net domestic assets ( nda ) by 10. 3 % reflecting increased lending to government