KALYALYA TO RESTORE BoZ PUBLIC CONFIDENCE, SAYS KAMARA
THE new Bank of Zambia (BoZ) Governor, Denny Kalyalya, has a task to restore public confidence and integrity in the Central Bank’s operation, whose public image as of late came under intense scrutiny by both domestic and foreign market players.
This is critical in regaining investor confidence and allaying the fears of volatility and the blinding uncertainty in the Zambian business environment.
This is according to the Zambia Tax Platform (ZTP) Coordinator, Ibrahim Kamara.
Mr Kamara said the economy needed urgent and decisive intervention especially towards macroeconomic stabilisation.
He stressed that immediate attention must be given to reducing and stabilising inflation over the medium-term and also the exchange rate which is currently still high at K16.7 against the United States dollar.
"The Bank of Zambia as an institution is charged with a number of economic functions among which include financial system regulation as well as price stability in the country.
"We must emphasise the task ahead of the Governor is not an easy one especially considering that the country is grappling with debt and Covid19 induced economic recession," Mr Kamara said in a statement.
ZTP, he said, urged Government to learn from the mistakes of the previous administration in which the fiscal side of the economy did not complement the efforts of the monetary side.
Mr Kamara stressed the need to institute policies and actions that made it difficult for the Central Bank to effectively influence (meet) its macroeconomic objectives and targets and thus only contributed to worsening the economic situation.
"Furthermore, we strongly urge Government to prioritise beefing up and stabilising the reserves to a minimum of three months import cover for the central bank’s effective responsive to economic shocks.
"The government should also address the country’s debt situation which risks depletion of the reserves and consequently weakening the Central Bank’s ability to in
tervene in price stabilisation economy- like arresting of the exchange and inflation rates," Mr Kamara said.