Page 15 - Zambia Yellow Pages 2025

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the textile and apparel industry in Africa.
DOING BUSINESS
Zambia is an attractive location for doing business, and both local and
foreign companies are able to benefit from the current focus on
economic diversification, which is being driven by targeted fiscal
interventions as well as structural reforms to unshackle constraints to
private sector activities. The website www.businesslicenses.gov.zm is
operational, and the e-registry system enables companies to apply for
licences online.
Starting a business in Zambia has become much easier in the past
decade, following the revamping of the company registry, the abolition
of the minimum paid-up capital requirement for starting a business, and
the creation of a one-stop shop for company registration, National
Pensions Scheme Authority (NAPSA) subscriptions and payments to the
Zambia Revenue Authority. To accelerate implementation of the land
titling programme, Government has rolled out the exercise to 16 district
councils and established the National Titling Centre in Lusaka. Further,
an automated workflow process for national land titling has been
developed. This will enable collection of property ownership details and
spatial data to develop a geo-database.
The World Bank's 2020'Doing Business' report puts Zambia in 85th place
out of 190 countries with respect to its business environment — two
places higher than the previous year and considerably above the
regional average. Furthermore, when it comes to the ease of starting a
business, Zambia is ranked substantially above Kenya, Botswana and
South Africa.
Further, Zambia is placed an impressive 4th worldwide in respect of ease
of getting credit. The country has strengthened access to credit by
introducing a new Movable Property Act, which provides for a
functional secured transactions system, and by setting up a new
collateral registry that is modern, notice-based, unified geographically
and searchable by a debtor's unique identifier.
Zambia is rated 17th in the world (from 58th in 2017) with regard to ease
of paying taxes, with highlights including the introduction of an online
platform for filing and paying taxes, as well as a reduction in the
property transfer tax rate. On average, firms make 11 tax payments a
year, spend 158 hours a year filing, preparing and paying taxes, and pay
total taxes amounting to 15.6 percent of profit.
The country has also strengthened minority investor protections by
increasing shareholders' rights and their role in major corporate
decisions and clarifying ownership and control structures. In this
respect, Zambia is ranked 72nd worldwide alongside Botswana.
Additionally, Zambia has made it easier to resolve insolvency by
introducing a reorganisation procedure and granting debtors the
possibility of obtaining post-commencement finance. This is the third
best score in Sub-Saharan Africa, and higher than South Africa,
Botswana and Namibia. In the previous Doing Business report of 2019,
the country made enforcing contracts easier by making judgments
rendered in commercial matters at the Appellate and Supreme Court
levels available to the general public online.
THE FINANCIAL SECTOR
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its country report
of August 2019, Zambia's financial sector is relatively underdeveloped
and mainly dominated by commercial banks and the state-run National
Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA). The 18 registered commercial
banks account for about 70 percent of total financial sector assets; the
majority are foreign-owned. The overall financial performance and
condition of the banking sector at end-December 2019 was rated
satisfactory.
The non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) sector is dominated by
NAPSA, which holds around 75 percent of NBFI assets. NAPSA was
established in 2000 and has a growing pool of assets (around 30 billion
Kwacha at end-2018), playing an important role in the domestic
government securities market and investment activities. Other NBFIs are
the 35 MFIs, 80 bureaux de change, and some building societies, leasing
companies and development finance institutions. The overall
performance of the sector was assessed to be fair as at 31 December
2019.
The overall direction and coordination of the financial sector is
undertaken by the Ministry of Finance, primarily through the following
three regulators. The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) is responsible for monetary
and supervisory policy and regulates banks and other financial service
institutions registered under the Banking and Financial Services Act. The
Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is tasked with the
supervision and development of Zambian capital markets, as well as
licensing, registration and authorisation in respect of financial
intermediaries, issuers of debt and equity instruments, and collective
investment schemes. This role is prescribed under the Securities Act of
2016. The Pensions & Insurance Authority (PIA) regulates the conduct
of the pension and insurance industry through prudential supervision in
order to protect the interests of pension scheme members and
insurance policyholders. This takes place under the provisions of the
Pension Scheme Regulation Act of 1996.
With the health of the financial sector vital to economic stability and
growth, BoZ continues to pursue regulatory policies that strengthen the
resilience of the financial sector in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In this regard, the Bank has adopted financial stability and financial
inclusion as two focus areas in its 2020-2023 Strategic Plan. To achieve
universal access to and usage of a broad range of financial services, the
implementation of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy and the
National Strategy on Financial Education continues.
In addition, the Targeted Medium-Term Refinancing Facility was
introduced with an initial amount of K10 billion. The Facility allows
Financial Service Providers under the supervision of the Central Bank to
access funds at relatively low interest rates for on-lending to businesses
and households. The Facility is being reviewed and adjusted to address
identified implementation challenges so that it achieves the intended
objectives.
Increased use of digital financial services is a critical component of the
measures being implemented to address the Covid-19 pandemic. As
such, the BoZ in consultation with the industry, waived charges for
electronic money transfer of up to K150 in April 2020. Transactions and
balance limits for individuals and enterprises were also revised upwards.
In addition, the processing fees under the Real Time Gross Settlement
system were reduced, leading to a significant increase in the use of
digital financial services.
Lusaka Stock Exchange
The opening of the Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE) on 21 February 1994
was a major step in the economic development of Zambia.The LuSE was
established as a capital market development project, with initial support
from the IFC/World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) and the Zambian Government. It is a legally mandated company
whose main activity is the operation of a securities exchange for dealing
in shares, bonds, and other securities in accordance with the Securities
Act No. 38 of 1993.
The exchange is an efficient, orderly and transparent market for shares
and bonds, and is structured as a modern stock exchange, conforming
to world standards. Automated clearing and settlement facilities are
provided through a Central Securities Depository (CSD). The Zambian
Government provided grant financing up until 2009, and the