Letuka Chafotsa
The Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL) on Monday launched the 2014 Money Week Lesotho (MWL) campaign at the Lehakoe Recreation and Cultural Centre, in collaboration with key stakeholders.
The event, which ends on Saturday, is being attended by delegates from insurance companies, commercial banks, and telecommunications companies, as well as Lesotho’s international financial partners, among other role-players.
The theme of this year’s event is: “Make your money work for you: creating wealth through knowledge. Every cent counts.”
In her keynote address to open the campaign, the CBL Governor, Retselisitsoe Matlanyane, said the promotion would help “widen access to finance” while also “strengthening public knowledge and engagement in financial-sector liberalisation”, thereby assisting in collective poverty alleviation among Basotho.
“Financial sector liberalisation can be defined as a set of reforms and policy measures designed to deregulate and transform a financial system and its structure. This is done with a view to achieve a liberalised, market-oriented system within an appropriate regulatory framework, so we hope this year, the Money Week campaign will be important in helping achieve poverty reduction, while deepening the country’s financial systems,” Dr Matlanyane said.
The governor further said the campaign, which Lesotho is holding for the second time following its launch last year, would also help the different publics better manage their finances.
“This knowledge would be providing a foundation for implementing effective, stabilisation policies and successfully mobilising capital and putting it to efficient use, which leads to achieving higher rates of economic growth,” she added.
The Deputy Minister of Finance, ‘Matsepo Ramakoae, also highlighted why the Money Week campaign was important for Lesotho.
“Having acquired the knowledge, skills and abilities, it is believed the public would be in a position to undertake responsible economic and financial decisions and actions with the requisite level of competence, which are contributory to economic growth,” Ms Ramakoae said.
According to Ms Ramakoae, financial inclusion and literacy were “generally accepted catalysts for financial education and stability and thus growth and development”.
She added: “In order to promote financial literacy and economic stability, Lesotho has adopted the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2012-2017 as one of the instruments of change within the economy.
“The NSDP, among others, acknowledges that some of the major economic challenges for Lesotho are to promote financial inclusion and access to credit, financial literacy, savings culture and financial stability and soundness.”
But for Lesotho to “operationalise” the NSDP, Ms Ramakoae said government had adopted the Financial Sector Development Strategy (FSDS) in 2013.
“The FSDS crystalises and seeks to implement those strategies that are designed to promote knowledge and understanding of economic and financial issues among the population of Lesotho, hence the relevance of the Money Week initiative,” Ms Ramakoae said.
She added government was facilitating and expanding the outreach of quality financial services by different providers, increasing the financial and investment capacity of the private sector, creating sustainable, inclusive finance-providers, promoting innovations and supporting the development of infrastructure.
