The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has said children and youths have a role to play in achieving the national vision for Zambia to become a prosperous middle-income nation.
Speaking during the launch of the #FinancialLiteracyWeek2021 attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT , BoZ deputy governor for operations Dr. Francis Chipimo said the provision of a wide range of financial services and financial literacy is intended to empower citizens with necessary skills to manage risks, plan for the future, and achieve their goals.
Dr. Chipimo said equally, these skills will enable business enterprises to access affordable financing as well as facilitation of innovation, growth and employment creation, and ultimately contribute to realizing Vision of making Zambia a middle income country.
“It is important for children and youths to know that financial sector strategies aim to broaden the types of financial services in the banking, capital markets, microfinance, and insurance and pensions sectors”.
“These strategies also aim to promote financial inclusion by making all citizens, including children and youths, have access to, and usage of a broad range of affordable financial products and services in the form of savings, credit, payment, insurance, investment and mobile banking services,” Dr. Chipimo said.
He said children and youths have an opportunity to learn about household and business finances, earning a living, savings, budgeting, prioritizing expenses between needs and wants among others through the primary and secondary education curriculum subjects of Social Studies, Expressive Arts, Business Studies, Civic Education and Physical Education.
“This will provide a good foundation for them to understand how the economy functions, the allocation of money and development of productive assets and financial decision making”.
And by developing the habit of saving and financial planning, and the use of appropriate financial services, children and youths can acquire financial and social security, as well as accumulate capital to meet their current and future development needs, thus leading to prosperity in their individual lives,” he said.
“I therefore wish to encourage them to prioritize education. I also want to reiterate the importance for children and youths to understand that achievement of Vision 2030 is a collective responsibility for everyone. Together, we can make Zambia a prosperous nation,” he said.
The BoZ deputy governor further stated that the central bank was working around continuing with the outreach programmes and finding innovative ways of increasing financial product uptake. BoZ is currently pushing financial service providers to develop products that are suited for people who do not have a lot of money to save.
