Regulatory Alerts2002-01-01
Bank of Zambia Circular 15/2002 on Support for Commercial Bank Lending to the Agriculture Sector
The Bank of Zambia issued Circular 15/2002 to implement voluntary schemes that lower effective statutory reserve ratios for commercial banks lending to the agricultural sector, thereby reducing lending base rates by an expected 15 percent. Participating banks must exclude qualifying new Kwacha agricultural loans and leases from their statutory reserve calculation bases and channel all released resources exclusively to agriculture, while also waiving market-rate matching requirements for renegotiated problem agricultural loans. The three-year scheme mandates strict weekly reporting and on-site verification, imposing financial penalties and reserve shortfalls on any institutions that deviate from the guidelines or submit incorrect data.
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