Bank of Zambia (BOZ) Deputy Governor Operations Francis Chipimo has revealed that the Exports Proceeds Tracking Framework (EPTF) which came into effect on 1st January 2024 will only be fully implemented in 2025 adding that the services side is yet to be implemented as the current focus is on tracking goods.
Responding to a question raised by the Zambian Business Times (ZBT) over the EPTF Chipimo stated that the Bank has had receipt of K4 billions of exports and only about K2 billion has been reconciled.
“Since it was launched in January in terms of the total export value we had K6.6 billion, and in terms of the trade data, and in terms of the export receipts the value that we have received is about K4.1 billion, and all points of the framework are to reconcile so that we can say when this export was made this is the money that was made, and the reconciliation process we still have a bit of a long way to go and the amount recorded is K2 billion partly because we have not fully implemented the services side, once we implement the services side by January next year, then we should be able to fully reconcile,” he said.
Chipimo echoed that the bank is also working on tracking imports, alongside the services and goods.
“For example, we can be able to track the money that one is taking out, but they may say this money is ours because I imported goods and services before, there isn’t a way in which we can reconcile that indeed the money which you are sending out is for those imports, so that is the other pillar which we are implementing and once we do all of the three things we can have a 360-degree understanding of all of our payments in and out of the Country,” he said.
Chipimo emphasized the full actualization of the framework will also enable a full understanding of tax compliance and foreign exchange flows.
