Bank of Zambia closes K5 billion Stability and Resilience Facility as applications reach K8.5 billion

The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has closed its K5 billion Stability and Resilience Facility, the credit line it created to help businesses recover from the 2023/24 drought and the long hours of power cuts that followed. The bank says the money was fully taken up, while applications reached K8.5 billion, which is K3.5 billion more than it had to give. In a statement issued on Tuesday, BoZ Assistant Director for Communications Besnat Mwanza said the 12-month window for accessing the facility ended on 31 March 2026, after being extended from 31 December 2025. The funds went to agriculture, energy solutions and other productive activities. Ms Mwanza said the central bank is satisfied that the facility largely met its objectives. The facility works through banks and other financial service providers. The BoZ lent them money, and they were expected to on-lend it to viable farming businesses and to micro, small and medium enterprises hit by load shedding. The terms were softer than normal commercial loans: concessional interest rates, a repayment moratorium, and loan periods of up to seven years, which Ms Mwanza said was meant to give businesses adequate time to recover. The loans were meant for energy-related investments across farming and forestry, including climate-smart agriculture, irrigation, waste management and water reticulation, so that businesses would be less exposed to power cuts and dry spells in future. ## Background The facility was launched in December 2024, after the drought cut food production and reduced the water that drives Zambia's hydropower stations. The shortage of electricity forced businesses to cut production and, in many cases, to borrow to stay afloat. The BoZ stepped in to ease the pressure on the financial sector as well as on borrowers. ## Why it matters Most Zambians do not hold bank loans, but many of them depend on the farms, workshops and small firms that do. When those businesses survive a bad year, jobs and local food supply survive