By JUDITH NAMUTOWE  –

THE Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has assured the nation that it will take necessary measures to address currency depreciation and market volatility.
In the past three months, the Kwacha has depreciated by 19 per cent against the United States dollar which has raised concerns among the stakeholders in the country.
BoZ Governor Denny Kalyalya, however, said at a briefing that the Central Bank would continue to review the situation with regard to the depreciation of the Kwacha by taking necessary measures to address volatility in the market.
The governor, who noted that the Kwacha had depreciated by 19 per cent from January 2015 to date, said the currency was depreciating at a much higher pace compared to other currencies.
“But what countries are doing is to strike a balance to either have too much depreciation or appreciation and that is the debate that we are having in Zambia,” Dr Kalyalya said.
In 2014, the Kwacha depreciated by 14 per cent against the United States dollar, whilst over the first quarter of 2015 it has depreciated by more than 15 per cent.
Dr Kalyalya said development in the external sector presented one of the most serious challenges, in that the country did not have a diversified export base, it being a small, open commodity exporting country.
He said there was need for stakeholders to work with the Central Bank to ensure that the economy did not only grow but grew in a more sustainable way.
Dr Kalyalya said the country’s economy had been growing but at a rate which was not high enough and more importantly the growth had not been equitable due to various challenges the country is faced with.
“So the challenge we have is how to raise this growth so that everybody gets a share.?He said the key issue had been the sharp reduction in the price of copper which he said had had an impact on its current account.? Dr Kalyalya said the current account in 2014 registered a deficit of $431 million as compared to $284 million previously.
He reiterated that the country faces important challenges in the foreign exchange market and the wider economy.
“But we also face tremendous opportunities which offer us opportunity not only to grow our economy but also to reduce our unacceptable levels of poverty,” he said.
Dr Kalyalya said Government’s fundamental strategy to achieve this remained sound in investing in infrastructure, health and education.