RBZ on drive to bridge financial literacy gap

Sikhulekelani Moyo, Business Reporter
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has come up with a programme to empower members of the public, mainly the youths with financial literacy skills, which it says is critical in enhancing financial inclusion.

A strong foundation of financial literacy is critical in helping support various life goals such as savings for education or retirement, using debt responsibly and running any business.

Improved financial literacy is key in capacitating youths so that they contribute in achieving the targets set under the National Development Strategy (NDS1) and Vision 2030, RBZ deputy governor, Dr Jesimen Chipika, has said.

In her speech read on her behalf by Mrs Rachel Mushosho during the World Youth Skills Day held in Bulawayo recently, Dr Chipika said through the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) second phase, the bank was not only focusing on enhancing access to finance but scaling up financial literacy empowerment programmes.

“We seek to assist the Government to attain an upper middle-income economy by 2030 as well as attaining the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) so that no one is left behind,” said Dr Chipika.

She said through NFIS the central bank seeks to establish an ecosystem that supports financial resilience and financial health for young people in collaboration with other banking service providers.

“In trying to address the issues that hinder financial inclusion for young people, we facilitated the registration of the youth bank (Empower Bank) and that bank facilitates access and usage of bank services by the youths.”

Dr Chipika said the NFIS was introduced to ensure existence of an inclusive financial sector that broadens access to and use of financial services by all with the view of buttressing socio-economic development.

She said this was the reason why the Government also facilitated the registration of the Women Microfinance Bank after discovering that women account for more than 50 percent of the total population.

With most economies trying to recover from the devastating effect of Covid-19 pandemic, which left the majority of young people vulnerable and financially excluded, Dr Chipika said embracing financial literacy skills was critical for Zimbabwe.

She noted that out of about 15 million people in Zimbabwe, 67 percent are youths under the age of 35 who are academically qualified but ironically lack financial literacy skills.

“The RBZ in collaboration with other stakeholders in the financial literacy consumer thematic working group, are in the process of developing a national financial literacy framework to facilitate the designing and implementation of a systematic programme to enhance financial literacy in Zimbabwe,” she said.

The financial literacy framework Dr Chipika said, will address financial literacy deficiency in the country through financial literacy programmes that will enable consumers to acquire knowledge and skills.

She said to make sure no one is left behind, the central bank has visited 21 rural schools to provide them with information on financial literacy.

Dr Chipika called upon all stakeholders to play their part in building financially sound future leaders through participating in the literacy programmes being rolled out across the country. – @SikhulekelaniM1.