Bank of Zambia closes K5 billion business support facility

“The support came with concessional interest rates, a repayment moratorium and an extended loan period of up to seven years to give businesses adequate time to recover,” Mwanza said.

She said the funds supported energy-related investments and activities across the agribusiness and forestry value chains, including climate-smart agriculture, irrigation, waste management and water reticulation.

Mwanza said the central bank was satisfied that the facility had largely achieved its intended objectives.

She added that financial service providers were required to pass on the benefits of any reductions in the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to customers who accessed loans under the facility.

Under the SRF conditions, interest rates charged on advances to financial service providers are reduced whenever the central bank lowers the MPR, but are not increased when the policy rate rises.

The central bank said it would continue monitoring the use of the disbursed funds and loan performance to ensure compliance with the facility’s conditions.

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