BoZ says Mobile money boosting business in rural areas

By MAILESI BANDA

MOBILE banking platform is contributing to raising financial inclusion especially in rural areas where businesses are easily accessing financial services, says Bank of Zambia (BoZ), director banking and payment systems Lazarus Kamanga.

Mr Kamanga said currently there were about 1.6 million Zambian’s actively using mobile money.

Speaking during a media briefing recently, Mr Kamanga he said the mobile financial sector was a growing trend, adding that the central bank would continue to regulate the sector to enhance effectiveness.

“We have over 1.6 million, Zambians actively on mobile money. An active person is one who has basically made a transaction on the mobile platform within a period of 90 days,” he said.

He explained that the introduction of a loan facility and the recent reduction in transaction costs were among the reasons mobile money were being widely embraced.

Zambia has been experiencing financial exclusion due to different reasons among them poverty.

According to the Bank of Zambia’s 2015 Fin scope study, despite the country improving financial access and general inclusion, high levels of financial exclusion still existed in Zambia.

A major characteristic of financial exclusion was that it was more pronounced in rural areas where the majority of Zambians lived.