Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Government says it is committed to addressing the challenge of access to financial products and services in rural areas through the development of strategies and policies that will spur an inclusive approach for national development.
Minister of Finance and National Development Planning Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane says government recognizes that this challenge has had a serious impact on the agriculture sector in Zambia.
The Minister said this in a speech read on his behalf by Ministry of Finance and National Development Planning Permanent Secretary Budget and Economic Affairs Mukuli Chikuba during the National Consultative Meeting on Rural Finance in Lusaka today.
He says the New Dawn government has undertaken rural development as one of the cardinal issues to ensure equitable development between rural and urban sectors.
And Dr Musokotwane says the first step taken by government to achieve financial inclusion is by increasing the budgetary allocation for the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and decentralizing its implementation.
Speaking at the same event, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Country Director Ambrossio Barros says Zambia has recorded good progress in financial inclusion especially in rural areas as indicated by the fiscal survey in 2020.
And ABSA Managing Director Mizinga Melu in her keynote address said agriculture as the second largest contributor to the nation’s Growth Domestic Product (GDP) remains a key priority sector in the economic growth.
She says the financial sector will continue supporting the agriculture sector as it is cardinal to poverty reduction in Zambia.