BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes
OVER K1. 5 billion has been disbursed to six commercial banks under the Medium-Term Refinancing Facility which was put in place by the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) to assist businesses stay afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic period.
In April this year, the BoZ announced a K10 billion Medium-Term Refinancing Facility to enable Financial Service Providers (FSPs) to support businesses and households that have being impacted by Covid-19 which has had an adverse impact on the economy.
This is meant to provide liquidity at an affordable rate.
As at September 3, 2020, Atlas Mara Zambia was the main beneficiary from the disbursed funds with a total of K533 million, followed by Stanbic Bank Zambia at K494.4 million.
This is according to latest update released yesterday by the Central Bank on the applications, approvals and disbursements which have so far been undertaken.
The report indicated that Indo Zambia Bank was the third beneficiary with K320.9 million, followed by Access Bank Zambia at K99.8 million and First Capital Bank at K61.0 million.
The lowest stands at K17.1 million, funds disbursed to Absa Bank Zambia.
BoZ also reported that K221.42 million had been disbursed to Non-banks, bringing the total number of disbursements to all FSPs that had so far applied for the funds to over K1.7 billion.
This is out of the K5.3 billion which has so far been approved by the Central Bank, meaning that about K4 billion was waiting to be disbursed.
In terms of applications, the Central Bank indicated that: “a total of over K10.1 billion applications had been received as of September 3, 2020. Applications from 11 banks and 17 non-banks have so far been received.”
