The Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL) has encouraged the public to have an intimate relationship with their money.
Through its Money Month Campaign which started 10 years ago, CBL has made attempts to advise Basotho not to meddle with their relationship with money.
People should rather approach their relationship with money with care and treat that relationship as an intimate one, for if it is not the case, the consequences become painful.
This emerged at a recent Money Month Campaign 2024 wrap-up meeting where CBL shed light on the successes of the initiative under the theme: “Protect your money, Secure your future”. The theme emphasizes the importance of adopting a responsible and informed approached towards managing finances effectively.
This year’s campaign, hosted in the vibrant district of Mohale’s Hoek, made great strides in raising financial literacy and empowering communities across the district.
Speaking at the event, the CBL Governor, Dr Maluke Letete, thanked the financial sector for its continued efforts in educating Basotho about responsible money management
Letete said teaching and making Basotho aware of the usage of money is not easy because the final decision remains with an individual.
He pointed out that CBL and through the campaign can only raise awareness and implement various frameworks and laws, but at the end of the day, the final decision remains with an individual consumer who must choose between different alternatives.
“What we have been doing all these years was just to empower the consumer to have a broader knowledge which helps when it comes to decision making,” he explained.
He said the financial sector is evolving too fast in a pace that cannot be understandable and that platforms related to finance are coming up so fast that they sometimes think they are lagging behind.
“People may want to do transactions in different ways, for us what comes first is safety, speed and cost of money from one place to another,” Letete noted.
The chairperson of the Financial Education Steering Committee, Ephraim Moremoholo, said there has been increased participation of licensed financial institutions in the industry.
This is because they managed to reach 1, 7 million people for this year’s campaign.
Moremoholo observed increased appetite for financial literacy especially among salaried employees.
He said there has been more awareness, usage and access to mobile money services among the rural population.
“There is however, a lack of appropriate products and services suited for people with disabilities, women, business communities and farmers.
“There is also lack of adequate knowledge and understanding of the cost of borrowing, financial contracts, and other insurances than funeral cover,” he stated.
Moremoholo said financial literacy is considered a necessary condition for financial inclusion.
He added that there is increased demand for financial literacy among all target groups.
This year’s Money Month was hosted from April 11 to May 11.
The campaign is a global celebration aimed at inspiring children, youth, and adults to learn about money, saving, creating livelihoods, gaining employment, and becoming entrepreneurs.
Lesotho’s campaign is aligned to Global Money Week, which is meant to promote efforts aimed at improving the financial literacy of young people.
The ultimate goal of the campaign is to ensure that all children and young people have access to high-quality financial education; learn about money matters; and, are able to take smart financial decisions that can improve their future financial resilience and financial well-being.
