AN International Business Monitor has ranked Zambia among three Sub Saharan African countries set to out perform economically, regardless of global challenges.
The Business Monitor International names Ghana and Mozambique as the other countries to post strong performances in 2011, along with Zambia.
According to the BMI Africa Monitor, Southern Africa, Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Gabon and South Africa are likely to suffer the most in a worst-case scenario for the US and euro zone economies.
The BMI monthly regional report also forecasts that Zambia’s real Growth Domestic Product-GDP expansion will be above seven per cent for this year and 2012.
It says high copper prices and improving productivity in the mining sector will help Zambia maintain strong growth rates.
The monthly bulletin adds that this will be boosted by growth in agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
The BMI further predicts that Zambia will see its growth surge to 7.3 per cent due to a flurry of Foreign Direct Investment-FDI, robust copper production and strong agricultural output.
Business Monitor International is a leading, independent provider of proprietary data, analysis, ratings, rankings and forecasts covering 175 countries and 22 industry sectors.
ZNBC
This is good news only to zambians who have sight and can see opportunities.Unlike the so called phylosophers of more money in your pockets!!
At the rate we are going, we could have $1 trillion in reserves in the next 5 years and by then we will be a proper African Tiger. The next stage will be to go the 1 laptop per child way like Rwanda. Then people like Elias Chipimo Jr will be ready to take over and continue with the growth whose foundation has been set. Lets look at things differently. Chiluba liberarised, Mwanawasa started the rebuilding which RB has taken forward by focussing on infrastructure. Then next guy will focuss on serious industrialisation. I seriously do not think that person is MCS. We need someone with proper strategic thinking. I think Ba Sata is a spur of the moment kind of leader whose time I think unfortunately has passed. You can insult me but I think this is a fact.
dude, best comment i have read on LT in ages!!! U nailed it and eff whoever’s gonna be a hater :)
Will not insult, but if the masses want change they will vote the opposition regardless. However this is also an opportunity to hold them accountable to these strides as talking points in furthering development. Alot of self acclaimed educated politicians are present on the political scene but most lack commitment, this can be seen by the tendancies to shift affiliations when they have internal conflicts. Sad as it may be This is something every voter should be asking themselves. Is this person going to commit him/herself in ensuring policies and laws in my favor are past and implemented?
The beginning of a sentence in the 4th line from bottom shoud read “The next guy…..”
No 2
We have always said that and you have put right and square. Sata does not have the strategic and intellectual capability to take Zambia anywhere in this modern day and time. The ability to run government at this time of the awakening of the African Elephant need to be taken buy right minded people. Give credit for an old man, RB has created the foundation it will be left to Zambian to elect a level headed young intellectual leader to take over MC is far from it
If President Hakainde Hichilema had been in political office for as long as Sata has been in politics, Zambia would have been a super economic power on the continent of Africa. Zambia would have been industrialized with several manufacturing plants across the nation. Our big cities would have been clean unlike now when Lumumba road in the world’s dirtiest road. Unlike Sata, HH would also have championed freedom of speech and freedom of expression. The State controlled media would have been a thing of the past. Sata has been in power for 47 years and he is still depending on Tax payers to sustain his personal income. He stole several Billions of Kwacha during the Kafupi Era and he now wants to go back in there to steal even more from Zambians. He is a clever crook.
Number 2, lol. I whole heartedly agree. I don’t know much about Elias Chipomo or his achievements so I won’t comment much there. However the arch-types you described are spot on and I believe that as long as the trajectory is as you’ve described it Zambia’s economy will continue to grow rapidly. People have castigated the government for not implementing Windfall taxes, but look at the results! More FDI is coming to Zambia, the mining sector is going to be fully built and I’m sure the next president will focus on building mining related ecosystems around these. Why do you think the Special economic zones have been built near mining areas for the most part? MMD’s technocrats have been at work laying the foundation for growth, people just love to complain- period.
By the way, where is Prof. Clive Chirwa?? He has been mute since the collapse of the pact. He espoused strong views of how Zambia can achieve the much needed industrialisation..
These are the indicators we need to use to judge perfomance of an economy and make a decision for the future. I have closely been following these encouraging indicators. So now we have single digit inflation, 2+ credit rating, Most improved in doing business, one of the top three performers in Africa, one of the to 10 performers in the world, National reserves at $2.6 bn etc.
In my view this Govt needs to be commended for at least we can see what they are doing.
Zambia was the first African country China has helped build special economic zones…..China’s relationship with Zambia is arguably stronger than other African countries. KK helped build this relationship and I’m certain that over the next couple years you will see more cooperation between the countries. Don’t be surprised if you see Chinese manufacturers building products in Zambia……If you want to bring change to this country wait till 2016 but right now only the blind do not see the progress, they are putting emotion before reason. Personally I’m proud of my countries achievements over the last couple years……if you’re not then you need to become an optimist and see whats in front of you because its rare on our continent!
It’s enjoyable reading thought provoking comments of the likes of #2 and #6. If only most people could engage in such constructive debates especialy on fora such as this one were the average aptitude of most is expected to be “acceptable”. But alas, we will soon be “graced” to a barrage of insults….
Forward with RB!
When i read #2’s posting and the article, i immediately invited a PF office mate to read through and give me his views. He trashed the whole improved economic indicators calling BMI an MMD stooge and wen i pointed out that these guys were not even from Zambia, he then said that even if the economy was improving, as an individual, he was not feeling the improvement. i then told him that therein lay the problem. PF want money to be transported physically to them from Govt coffers and straight into their pockets. I told this guy that the govt had created the environment and it was up to him to get up and use the environment to his advantage the way a number of young enterprising Zambians already have. Of course all this fell on deaf ears :(
Number 10, its unfortunate that people can’t disagree and do so respectfully. The language used by many of the people who engage on this forum is unfortunate. LT please do more to delete such comments irrespective of what party they are supporting, its disgraceful that speak that way. On another note one reason why people don’t know about the massive amounts of work that have gone into building Zambia’s economy is simply that the private media hardly ever praises the government for its achievements- yes they should be castigated for the wrong things they do, but objectivity demands that where they do well they be praised for it. The continual flood of negativity from the independent media keeps people believing that Zambia is somehow failing as a state when this is far from true.
Number 11, there in lies the problem. PF essentially focuses on people’s individual selfishness, “we will put money in YOUR pockets” etc.
Speaking honestly there are still challenges economically, interest rates could be lower. But considering that the prime rate is now 20% when it was 40% ten years ago….thats a huge improvements, if the trend continues we can expect it to be 10% or less within the next 10 years, especially that Zambia has a Sovereign rating of B+, people don’t see that all these things will affect every one positively. Even if your friend isn’t feeling the improvements now, he or someone he knows will be as more jobs are created.
I remember yesterday there was an article of RB being in Western Province and the Angolan President also visiting the province. People then criticized it saying he cares more about Angola lol. The first thing to come to mind was something negative, they couldn’t see that Western Province’s key to development is their neighbor, Angola!
Angola imports massive amounts of beef and agricultural products from Brazil. Western Province is known for its Beef production, Forests and rice paddies. As infrastructure is completed to better connect the two countries, it will be Western Province who benefits most out of this, jobs will be created and poverty reduced. But somehow people choose to see the worst in a situation.
@2
You are spot on the ball. The incredible thing about the BMI report is that it forecats that Zambia’s per capita GDP could more than TREBLE from $1,467 in 2011 to $5,080 by 2020 if we continue with our current programmes. These guys even admit that Zambia is one of the countries they are upbeat about in Africa.
Zambia is going to be a great nation!! I am happy to be here and a Zetizen!!
I’m proud to be Zambian :)
@14
You are so right! That is why developing the Mongu-Kalabo-Angola Corridor is so strategically important so that Zambia can pump its products into Eastern Angola. Right now, DRC is Zambia’s biggest trading partner – more than South Africa or China. Number 2 must become Angola. That is our natural market. OPEN UP THE GATES – OPEN UP THE BORDERS; LET US TRADE; LET US MAKE MONEY!!!!
I agree! :)
No 17 its more than that. I have been to Angola on the diamond mines near Zambia. All these mines can be supplied with electricity and inputs from Zambia as Luanda is too far. Diesel for example is airlifted from Luanda to the mines. We trash our country and yet Zambia in the last 5 years is far much better than 50 countries in Africa. If we continue like this we certainly will be the 5th largest economy in Africa and a force to recon with. After copper has cemented the economic foundation, we need to develop tourism, agriculture and manufacturing. We also need to create Zambia as the ICT hub for southern africa due to how central we are. And also become the air and road travel hub by upgrading our infrastructure.Â
@ 17 drc has a popluaton of 71 as projected to get to 200million + by 2050 zambia has a population of 13 million will probs reach 23 million there a lot of mouths feed in drc + they require loots of manufactered material from zambia when drc gdp grows zambia gets huge bonuses please take a look at the new border post on the zambian side with the drc it’s amazing
wxw.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1429269&page=2
No 19 from last years budget, export from Zambia to DRC amounted to US$2bn. in my earlier post i said we need to be the hub of trade, ICT and travel in Southern Africa
I love Zambia
The best way to sustain this extremely positive outlook is to lock out Sata from State House. Giving Sata’s populist more money, 90 day miracle ideas and wild experiments a chance will just catapult Zambia from this ‘positive outlook’ to a confirmed status of a failed state (banana republic) before anyone knows it.
GDP in 2006 was 10 billion dollars, its expected to be 19.9 billion dollars in 2011 according to the BMI report. It grew to 14 billion by 2008, reduced to 12 billion in 2009 (financial crisis) and increased back 16 billion in 2010 and 19.9 billion this year, expected to be 24 billion by 2012 and 41 billion by 2015. Inflation is expected to maintain a 6-8% average.
This positive economic outlook would certainly be fine tuned only if all political players focused on ‘issues’ and policy outlines, not stone throwing and panga weilding antics that excite lazy bones who want their pockets filled with loads of money without sweat.
I agree with most of the comments above by 21 et al. However I would suggest that S.A. has an edge over Zambia. Zambia should focus on building infrastructure to connect its neighbors together so that it facilitates cheaper trade. It should also focus on building its Africultural sectors, Zambia has more fresh water than any other country in Southern Africa. More canals should be built to make more land suitable for year round production, Zambia could model its Agric sector on the Netherlands, its Trade and manufacturing on Singapore and its tourism on S.A.
Would it not have been great if Mr. Sata was able to articulate issues and alternative economic policies, querying government failures with tangible arguments? Zambia would have been much much better. Alas, Mr. Sata has Judge Ngoma as his economic advisor, now absent doing chores in jail.
Every Zambian has a civic duty to vote for ANYONE BUT SATA, preferably MMD. But I know this much, Nawakwi wouldn’t reck the economy, neither would HH, Miyanda I’m not sure. But they don’t have the numbers in parliament, which would render them useless when it comes to law making. So the only pragmatic choice here is to vote MMD. Sata would turn Zambia into Somalia, I don’t know how anyone could consider voting for someone who runs his party like a personal fiefdom or kingdom. To get where he is I’m certain Sata has had to make many promises to many people, his personality driven party has depended on it. If you think MMD is corrupt look at PF and how its managed, a PF Government would be many times worse than MMD.
Why is Sata’s economic chargé d’affaires absent on leave in jail? For using muscle in place of brains to think and speaking through the hanus for a mouth.
PF isn’t about issues, Sata has frequently changed his views to suit the moment. Even the wikileaks cables describe him as having no care for reality or the truth. How can a person who wants to be president break a cabbage and insult another candidate the way he did regarding the late Mr. Mwanawasa.
I can’t take him seriously because he is very insincere, He wanted to change the Constitution to give a president 3 terms and somehow now he wants us to believe he will reform it for the better and that he will reduce corruption? That single act for me shows his disregard for democracy and the law. He went as far as to throw people out of MMD for NOT supporting the 3rd term bid. MMD may not be the paragon of integrity but they have protected democracy and built the economy.
See how pf ‘s issue based campaigns are doing: a rowdy bunch hanging and dangling off every window of a truck they ride with their dash board filled with rocks to howl at unfortunates mistaking their way. A rock to the head of every idle passerby.
Sata our own version of Robin Hood. Take from the rich to share with poor is all preaches and what an effective message.
I do have a problem with these forecasts which are been made almost every day about Zambia. We should be given current figures of performance not just some forecast figures without knowing which model they are using to make the predictions. South African economy is bigger and more diverse than Zambia to be compared in the same group. These higher copper should not be used as measure of development in the country, the can change overnight. Â
Thoughts,
Sorry for detracting your well thought out points. You can proceed sir!
# 2 You set the right tone however the country still needs a person to give some kind of jolt to the existing systems in terms of Zambian attitude towards work and slowing down corruption or cleaning it up altogether. The work culture is pathetic to say the least. Industrialization needs a devoted and honest workforce. We need the Zambian first policy implemented and removal of the borrowed colonial system of “expatriate” versus “local” conditionsÂ
No 25. South Africa may have an edge over Zambia as its a bigger economy. The problem with South Africa is that its a white ran economy and the have a huge risk view of Africa. The last report i read showed that Kenya is now the preferred gateway to Africa over South Africa. The cost of doing business in South Africa is getting higher by the day due to high labour cost and a move to nationalistic politics.
Zambia therefore need to take advantage of the space. China has a strategic view to set up Zambia as a manufacturing based for Africa. Its is just a matter of time before the chinese kill the manufacturing base of South Africa just as the did it with the South African textile industry by setting up plants in Lesotho and Swaziland. Hence their heavy investment in power in Zambia.
@Theophilus,
I agree the work culture is a disgrace. Many companies and people haven’t yet grasped the notion of customer service. I’ve been a restaurant where they treated me as though it was a privileged to be served by them, considering the place was just a fast food restaurant I was very unimpressed.
@Zayelo,
No worries mate lol.
@Steve,
The report isn’t wholly based on predictions, it does also highlight current economic productivity. In fact if you see my comment on Thread 23 I quote some of the figures they present starting from 2006 until now (2011) and also projections towards 2015. The average GDP growth rate they use ranges between 6 & 7% so their projections aren’t overly optimistic.
Its therefore upto Zambia to realise its strategic importance in the region and take advantage. For example Zambia should start setting itself up as a tax heaven as Kenya is doing. We need to make it easy to open up investment companies to trade in Southern Africa. For example a business man with a company in Angola or Mozambique should be enticed to stay in Zambia by providing incentives e.g permanent residence as they can fly to these countries in less than an hour
I hope, ‘Theophilus’, in your suggestion above at #33, you are not implying that as a solution to ‘our natural docility’ we Zambians are ‘misfortuned’ with from birth, our only course to remedy this is to then opt for ‘ a slave driver’ who will sjambok our hasses to guaranteed performance in his plantation?
‘Theophilus’ are you selling that outrageous slave driver, that man with a humongous appetite for power by the name of Sata Bin laden? Don’t tell me you are!
@Zayelo,
As much as I don’t like Sata as a presidential candidate, he is still a human being and should be respected, give him that much. Lets not insult him by calling him ‘Satan’, in like manner people shouldn’t call RB ‘RBish’ or herb etc. Its just a matter of decency, thats all. I know we’re all better than that.
What is this BMI Africa? This is not a credible institution. If you want to have some clue of how African countries are doing, check the Global Competitiveness Report, published annually and takes into account a host of factors that drive meaningful development. The only countries that seem to have better ratings in the past 3 years are— Rwanda, South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, Mauritius.
I am impressed by the level of maturity and respect demonstrated by the bloggers. Keep it up. There was talk of oil discoveries in Zambia, what is the latest news ?
Vote for Sata at your peril. He is an old fashioned African politician who gives promises he very well knows he cannot keep. He will say anything to get into power. With RB we are slowly making progress and we enjoy peace other areas Africa can just dream of. Bless our Zambia.
GREAT CONTRIBUTIONS ON THIS TOPIC.THUMPS UP LADS.ZAMBIA,ZAMBIA FREE MEN WE STAND,UNDER THE FLAG, OF OUR LAND.
Kudos zambians for the many level headed comments and the interest shown to an issue most ignore in favour of low level political drivel.Some bloggers raised the important issue of zambian work ethic or lack thereof.It is easier to break into middle income as than to get into the top tier economy with the current work ethic.This is so because copper prices will never rise or equal prices of finished goods so the current growth can only go so far.The other reason is primary products require lower knowledge & investments than a knowledge based economy.If we’re to realize an even better economy for zambia we’ll need to change our work attitudes as the current model is based on the knowhow of foreigners.Sweden and Japan are proof that its what you know not what you have.
Absolutely great contributions on this one. guess most of the kaponyas are asleep
you have made my day comrades. keep the spirit, no insults only issues should be looked at critically. Oh what a nice country to belong to.
What we lack as Zambians is the patience to wait for the fruits of economic growth to ripen. The Kaponyas ” PF” dont understand this.
that’s good not long ago Zambia was on poverty list
with Haiti, now on economic growth , wish Zambians
can take advantage, it’s a Zambian thing to complain
 ,when opportunities right in front of them .for a Chinese
to leave his country that means he has seen some potential
Pipo Lets be objective. This is a great stride for the world stage. But so far I see only positivity from direct benefactors at corporate level on local stage, myself inclusive. Why not apply these indicators to Abaiche (youth) in Zed so that they can apply it in their lives. I wish we could see a hand on working mechanism being applied at grassroots for the ordinary to understand this. Imiti ikula (youth prvb) at this stage in Zed are the largest patrons of drinking spots. This is so unexciting to say they will be future leaders.
I must add even a lot of photos of various characters of youth leaders posted here show unpolished images reeking of hangovers. Great minds should be marched with appealing images. We need to polish our act.
Zambia has never been short of opportunities. What we seem to lack is the will to seize them and act upon them, use them, capitalise. Livingstone tourism is a classic example – Zimbabwe “going to the dogs” for year and years but all we could do to capitalise was to squabble about who gets what, and allocate contracts to foreign investors. Now Zimbabwe is making a comeback and we have been sleeping all these years… A change of culture is what’s needed
The positive developments that the country has registered are not a result of the foresight or planning of the government. The successes scored so far are despite government inertia and lack of vision in many ways. The Zambian economy is being driven by the high copper prices in mining and the hard work of the Zambian people in agriculture period. If the copper prices were to fall today, Zambia would be back in the doldrums. Government is not doing enough to diversify the economy to avoid an economic meltdown in case of depressed metal prices. Give credit to the Zambian people for their hard work and not the government.
No 53
I do no agree with you… Zambians have been working hard since independence. Its the government of the days good policies which have enabled the economic success Zambia is enjoying. None traditional exports from Zambia have grown to US$1.5bn so its not just copper mining which is growing the economy. We may not like Chiluba including my self, but we need to accept that Chiluba’s government took very fundamental economic changes in 1991. The fruits of that economic restructuring are now starting to bear fruits namely abolition of exchange control, Â privatisation of the economy etc. This ended up attracting massive FDI. Zambians to not have any capital to develop the economy we have to accept that for a while, FDI will be need to grow the economy.Â
A bird has only wings, legs and a brain, and that is enough to put food on the table for its young. It is very resourceful because nature has made an enabling environment from where it will use those resources to make ends meet. It never waits for nature to directly put food in its mouth. As human beings, God has given us feet, hands and the brain and the resources to ensure we live to eat.Unfortunately in Zambia, we want God thru govt to directly put food in our mouths, or at the table. we fail to use the enabling environment to our advantage, which others have done.Sometimes i tend to think that we are sometimes just plain lazy. More money in the pockets, how? Surely, aren’t we worth more than birds? Lets not always ask wat the country will do for us, but wat we can do for the country.
I was checking out developmental projects and infrastructure on you tube for African countries. I was really amazed with the development in a number of countries that will make Zambia a loughing stock. With the current trend of just talking, Zambia will go nowhere. The current President has shown that he is not a good talker but rather a performer. So is Sata who is a good talker as well as a performer, looking at his past record when he was Minister. Whoever wins the election should choose the right people for ministers and not the likes of Willie Nsanda or Shikapwasha. We will be retarding our developmental goals with such mediocre ministers. Go to you tube and see 10 fatest growing cities, you will like what you will see is happening in Congo and Angola. Congo has built a new city.
Livingstone must be transformed into a modern city by pumping in a lot of money and an ambitious infranstructure building to bring it to the same levels like Bahamas. Iknow a lot of you think it cant be done, but with the right people in place it can be done. That is what has happened in Congo were Kinshasa now looks like Dubai.( CITIE DU FLAVE). Angola has done the same by channeling all thier resources into Building two new cities, and thats how they created employment in the construction industry. These projects though with the help of the Chinese were mainly funded by local Banks. Try this and you will see a lot of jobs created, from Chilanga cement to Zamefa filtering down to Industrial forests.
But why do the 68% Zambians still live below poverty line? Yes, spending less than $US 1 Â per day?Â
There is a mention of Chipimo as someone who will take Zambia to the next level of development but I doubt it because the young politician lucks tactical move. Put it this way late Mwanawasa was gifted his presidency by FTJ, while RB was gifted by Mwanawasa. Without the duo being gifted or backed by government resources they would have not even made it to plot one or even been as effective as HH and Sata. There is a pattern here which young politicians need to understand instead of forming their own parties.If MMD wins I will put my bet on Mhabi Lungu. This young politician is the only one who understands how he could steal the presidency from people like HH. He has been positioning himself very well first with KK now RB. He is likely to be the next generation leader to transform Zambia.
How will the Zambian economy be sustained post copper boom?
Copper is being depleted at an alarming rate and its not a renewable asset. So what is the way forward? Good question!
Agricultural development economist argue. With the 5 mighyt rivers in place with world food at risk Zambia could rise to the occasion. Europe has been able to feed itself and kept food cheap because of subsidies. Could Z government be ready to subsidies? economist will attack anyone talking about subsidies. So we should learn to ignore economist first before we could think of the alternatives. We should find a solution to our problems. UK, USA, Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland and possibly France are all broke because they took everything monetarist economist proposed including taking mortgages as risk free.
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