ANDD BEMOANS CLOSURE OF INVESTRUST BANK
….there is need to address the high cost of doing business to change the country’s economic narrative
Lusaka… Wednesday April 3, 2024 (SMART EAGLES)
The Advocates For National Development and Democracy (ANDD) says it has received the news of the takeover of Investrust Bank by the Bank of Zambia with a heavy heart.
ANDD Executive Director Samuel Banda says his organizion is saddened saying the development has come at a time when the country’s economy is in distress with people struggling to make ends meet.
“For us and all stakeholders, the closure of Investrust will affect everyone in the economic value chain as people will lose employment amidst the high unemployment levels coupled with the high cost of living and doing business,” he said.
“We inevitably expect more business entities to collapse if the Government doesn’t implement sound economic policies that will promote business growth and stability. The Bank of Zambia equally has to intervene with sound economic policies as opposed to current policies that are detrimental to our domestic business environment.”
Mr Banda indicated that with no regard to challenges of capitalization, market share and profitability of local financial institutions, Bank of Zambia has been consistently increasing the statutory reserve ratio, which is detrimental to the growth of local financial institutions.
“The Bank of Zambia has also been increasing the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), almost every 3 months which has effectively reduced the customer base for most banks, negatively affecting their liquidity and profitability. As ANDD, we urge the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Zambia to formulate and implement sound economic policies that will create a conducive business environment to support business growth and financial stability as well as boost commerce and trade if we are to grow our domestic economy,” he stated.