Ambassador Speeches
Remarks by Ambassador Martinez at the Lusaka Stock Exchange
LusakaMay 15, 2006
Let me begin by thanking the Lusaka Stock Exchange for inviting me
here today to visit your operation. I am delighted to open the trading
today, and offer you my warm wishes for a successful session!
In
a survey taken last year, Zambians were asked to choose from these two
options: 1) the government should be responsible for the well-being of
the people; or 2) people should provide for themselves. The majority
said the government should be responsible.
If this survey is an
accurate reflection of public opinion, then we have our work cut out
for us. I say "we" because I presume that anyone who is willing to be
seen at the stock exchange with the American ambassador must be in
favor of a market economy.
The survey I mentioned, and much of
daily reality in Zambia, compel us to ask: Are markets working? Does a
liberalized economy make life better for most people? A lot of people I
know in Zambia would answer "no" to these questions. This leaves us
with a challenge -- namely, to do more to make the market work. There
is much at stake here. Most Zambians live in poverty, and the economy
is growing only a little faster than the population. The economy needs
to grow at a sustained pace about twice as fast as last year if
Zambians who are poor today are to experience anything other than
poverty.
I know that a market economy can turn the tide of
poverty. It happens faster if the government stops corruption and
regulates the market fairly. But there is much that you here at the
stock exchange can do while the government struggles with many of the
challenges that entrenched corruption has created.
The other day
I learned that the Lusaka Stock Exchange had recently set new rules to
govern trading of debt securities. This news did not make CNN, I am
sorry to say, but I think it is exciting. Now that the government can
borrow from the public at less than 10 percent, it will be great news
for Zambia's economy if capital-starved enterprises can do likewise. If
the Lusaka Stock Exchange can build a transparent and reliable market
for private debt transactions, then the wider market will begin to work
better for everyone.
I am proud to say that the U.S. government
is also supporting practical innovations that will make Zambia's
financial markets work for more people. A short walk from here, you
will find model homes for a housing project in Lilayi. On the basis of
financing and credit guarantees from the U.S. and other partners,
forward-looking bankers here in Lusaka have been able to make home
mortgages a commercial proposition for the first time in Zambia. If the
Lusaka Stock Exchange succeeds in building a local debt market that
works, Zambia's financial system will be able to help ever more
Zambians become owners of their own homes. That's a good way to make
poverty history.
When that happens, we will do another survey and find that most Zambians know the market works for them.
Thank
you, again, for inviting me here to open the session today, and I look
forward to more visits and cooperation in the future.
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