By Lazarus Kamanga
2007
This paper is on the operations of the government securities market in Zambia. The government securities market has grown since the early 1990s when major economic reforms were undertaken. The Zambian capital market is still and remains to be underdeveloped. This is due to a number of factors such as equity markets lacking sufficient liquidity, a weak regulatory structure requiring institutional reform, and a poorly functioning trading and depository system and lack of benchmark yield curves due to short term nature of the government securities. Significant development, reform, and depth are needed, both to meet the countries’ ambitious economic development goals and to build capital market sector. As such the development and reforming of the government securities markets is an important ingredient in developing the capital markets. In the paper, I stipulate the necessary conditions for the development of the government securities market and compare with what is obtaining in Zambia and offer recommendations.