Access Bank Zambia has pledged to increase financing towards agriculture and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to support production, exports and job creation under the Government’s Grow Zambia Agenda.
Managing Director, Iheanyi Nwogu, said the bank would prioritise productive sectors as Zambia transitions from economic stabilisation to expansion and structural transformation.
Speaking during the 2027 Post-Budget Symposium organised by the Ministry of Finance and National Planning at Mulungushi International Conference centre in Lusaka on Monday, Nwogu said access to capital was critical for businesses seeking to expand operations, increase production and create employment.
He said the bank intended to finance the entire agricultural value chain, including inputs, mechanisation, irrigation, storage and exports.
“Businesses cannot invest, expand production or create jobs without access to capital. And that capital must reach the sectors and enterprises capable of driving export-led growth,” he said.
Nwogu said Access Bank had facilitated more than K2.5 billion in payments under the Food Reserve Agency’s digital farmer payment programme, recording a 99 per cent system success rate.
He said the bank was also prepared to support the proposed transformation of the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) into a loan scheme through its branches and agents in farming districts.
He added that the bank intended to lend against warehouse receipts once the Agricultural Credit and Warehouse Receipts Act was commenced, enabling farmers to use stored produce as collateral.
On SMEs, Nwogu welcomed the Bank of Zambia’s K5 billion credit guarantee scheme, saying Access Bank intended to participate among the first lenders to deploy the facility.
“A guarantee creates jobs only when a bank uses it. We will use it,” he said.
The bank, he said, had also committed approximately K1.611 billion to businesses across the energy value chain and supported strategic energy initiatives exceeding US$117 million.
Nwogu said achieving the ambition of a K1.2 trillion economy by 2029 would require timely financing and stronger partnerships between Government and the private sector.
“The true measure of our contribution is not simply how much we finance, but what that financing makes possible: a farmer increasing production, a local supplier expanding operations, an entrepreneur creating employment,” he said.
(Ripples)