Government should strengthen monitoring mechanisms of existing institutions and not bring new regulations that might result in duplication of efforts, says immediate past Central Bank governor Caleb Fundanga.
Commenting on the amendments that have been made to the Bank of Zambia Act, Dr Fundanga said he had not read thoroughly what the amendments stipulated.
“Though I have read and listened to comments from the business community that it might lead to exchange controls or whatever but the only thing I would say is that we should not go back to exchange controls since the experience we had was not positive,” he said in an interview in Lusaka.
“We can do something to ensure money remains here because we have institutions which already exist like ZRA, which is key in monitoring what comes in and goes out of the country, so the strategy is to strengthen those institutions because if you take those functions to other institutions, you duplicate efforts and sometimes you create institutional rivalry…It is important to monitor what is going out and coming in and those statistics are available and we use them in presentations. So we need to strengthen monitoring than duplicating functions.”
Some stakeholders have questioned amendments to the BoZ Act that seek to regulate foreign exchange inflows and outflows and amounts remitted, and monitor international transactions in services and investment in the form of equity and debt securities abroad.
The Act also seeks to regulate international money transfers into and out of Zambia and monitor profits and dividends received in respect of investments abroad.
Opponents argue that it was within BoZ’s mandate to monitor and regulate the flow of money and related transactions and also that the money laundering Act was in place to curb any illicit flow of funds.
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