• BANK of Zambia Deputy Governor, Administration Tukiya Kankasa-Mabula (left) presents Copperbelt Permanent Secretary Howard Sikwela with a a gift during the bank’s Northern Region 50th Anniversary business symposium at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium pavillion in Ndola yesterday. Looking on is assistant director, public relations Kanguya Mayondi. Picture by REBECCA MUSHOTA

By REBECCA MUSHOTA –
THE Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has employed qualified people who will enable the Central Bank react appropriately to economic challenges in Zambia and help stabilise the economy, the bank’s Deputy Governor Tukiya Kankasa-Mabula has said.
Dr Kankasa-Mabula said yesterday at the BoZ northern region 50th anniversary business symposium at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium pavilion that the Central Bank was now staffed with qualified human resource that was able to react timely to economic challenges in the country.
“The bank is now staffed by a highly qualified compliment of lawyers, accountants, supervisors, regulators and financial analysts, among others. Going forward, this mix of qualified staff will enable the bank to be much more proactive in keeping with the ever-changing monetary and financial sector landscape,” Dr Kankasa-Mabula said.
“In addition, this will also ensure that the bank continues to play a significant role in economic development.”
Dr Kankasa-Mabula said BoZ had invested significantly in its human resource, which was the base for all the achievements the bank had attained and had proved to be an asset in times of crisis.
In the last 50 years, staff has grown from more than 100 in the early 1960s to a peak of around 1,200 in 1992, and was 528 as at June 2014.
Dr Kankasa-Mabula said the 50th anniversary celebration, therefore, gave BoZ employees an opportunity to reflect on the bank’s aspirations for the future.
Dr Kankasa-Mabula said the bank was committed to empowering the Zambian people through the provision of affordable, accessible and convenient banking services, while also promoting financial inclusion and financial literacy.
Copperbelt Minister Mwenya Musenge said BoZ had an important role to play in the growth of the country’s economy by regulating the growing financial sector in the northern part of the country due to increasing mining activities.
Mr Musenge said in a speech read for him by Copperbelt Permanent Secretary Howard Sikwela that because of the growing mining industry on the Copperbelt and in North-Western Province, the two regions had seen an increase in the mining sector.
He said that was commendable because the Government was using that opportunity to resuscitate other economic sectors that supported the mining industry.