THE banking sector has faced a massive challenge of trying to cushion the huge demand for dollars on the local financial market amid high inflation and the continued kwacha depreciation, says the Bankers’ Association of Zambia (BAZ). In an interview, BAZ chief executive officer Leonard Mwanza said banks had continued to face challenges of trying to cushion the huge demand for dollars characterised by increased costs of doing business. He added that the local currency’s value had equally come under pressure by high inflation and persistently high demand for dollars, which kept the kwacha trading at an average K21.50 per dollar. “On one side, banks are businesses and on the other side, they are financial intermediaries; they provide transaction services,...