In opening remarks at the final round of stakeholder consultations on the proposed Bank of Zambia Currency Directives of 2025, the Bank of Zambia said it has updated the draft currency regulations intended to reinforce the Kwacha as the sole legal tender for domestic transactions and to address the risks associated with increasing use of foreign currency in local payments. The Bank framed the measures as part of a broader foreign exchange market reform agenda under the Bank of Zambia Act, 2022, alongside earlier initiatives including the Electronic Balance of Payments system, the Export Proceeds Tracking Framework, the Foreign Exchange Market Guidelines, and revised Interbank Foreign Exchange Market Rules, as well as work on adding hedging instruments such as Non-Deliverable Forwards through open market operations. It also summarised feedback raised by stakeholders, including concerns that the rules could function as exchange controls, that the timing was challenging given macroeconomic conditions, that exchange-rate risk and supply-chain disruptions could increase, and that exemption criteria should be clearer and principle-based, with suggestions for phased implementation and for allowing foreign-currency quoting with local-currency settlement. In response, the Bank said implementation will be phased and simplified, with scheduled exemptions designed to avoid economic disruption by allowing certain transactions to continue in foreign currency, and that performance and implementation challenges will be kept under review. A revised version of the regulations was due to be presented at the meeting as part of the concluding consultation round; no timing for finalisation or entry into force was specified.

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