Zambian economist Oliver Saasa said the country’s economy has already performed above average in 2012.
Professor Saasa said all the economic indicators have posted positive gains and that all is looking bright.
Giving his analysis on how the economy has performed in 2012 so far, Prof. Saasa told ZANIS in Lusaka yesterday that the country’s economy has performed exceptionally well.
He cited the price of copper which has remained fairly high, the boom in the agriculture sector and the continued conducive investment climate as being behind the positive economic performance the country has achieved in 2012.
Prof. Saasa said the country has also recorded substantial export inflows particularly in the mining sector averaging to between US$2 billion and US$3 billion which has helped to stabilise the economy.
He said the agriculture sector has also played a major role in stabilizing inflation as prices of food stuffs such as mealie meal have been sustained.
Prof. Saasa stated that it was imperative therefore that as the country goes into the New Year, government leaders should remain consistent with their policy pronouncements to avoid scaring away foreign investors.
He said despite all the positive gains Zambia has recorded, the country has the potential to do better than it has recorded.
Prof. Saasa said the growth prospects are bright saying the country has the potential to further grow the economy.
He said what Zambia needs was to maintain the hospitable political and investment climate currently obtaining in order to maximize the potential the country has.
The local economist has since called on politicians to minimize the ‘political fights’ which have gripped the political scene currently but instead resort to dialogue and solve issues affecting the country.
He noted that avoiding political squabbles will project a good image of the country to the outside world.
He said political fights have the potential to disrupt the good investment climate the country is experiencing.
Prof. Saasa challenged government to exercise leadership and bring all the parties to the negotiating table to discuss issues of national interest.
He said it was imperative that politicians do politics that reflect the good investment climate that is obtaining in the country.
And speaking in a separate interview with ZANIS in Lusaka yesterday, Private Sector Development Association Chairperson Yusuf Dodia said there was need to focus on growing the domestic industry for the wellbeing of the country’s economy.
Mr. Dodia said an economy such as Zambia’s can only grow sustainably if its domestic industry is developed.
ZANIS
Is Prof Saasa living in a parallel Zambia? Mealie-meal is running short everywhere, farmer’s produce has not been bought, mealie-meal prices have gone up to almost K100,000, the Kwacha is now K5,500 to the US Dollar, agricultural output has fallen by 30% compared to last year and inflation has notched up. Which growth is he talking about? And all this has happened since PF took over! If you are looking for a job, just say it directly without saying something that makes you look stupid.
Chaps like saasa are gud at making decisions parallel to evry1. Wht gains is taking?
This is why people say the opposition in Zambia is weak. A lot of things are going wrong but the opposition leaders are busy fighting their members. Speak of real issues. SATA has allowed CBU to rot in corruption. CBU will continue experiencing the same headaches as long as leaders are put in corruptly. The search committee recommended Prof. Tembo for VC this is fact. The search committee appointed Dr. Libati for DVC also fact. What did the minister do? SATA check the recommendations from the search committee. CBU cannot continue being manipulated by a few individuals. Watch the space.
Saasa is the govt’s economic consultant and thus he’s finding it difficult to criticise it. More than 50% of his business revenue comes from the govt and so what do you expect him to say?
Prophet of doom.U can’t c no good dat PF has done thus far.All da problems we have now root from MMD misrule.They left us wit chronicle corruption,choatic agricultural marketng system,volatile kwacha,etc
Bo Saasa, which economical gain? pipo are stil living in less than K500 per day. Whn things are gud 4 u dot say dat all is well 4 evry1.
The point is that things have improved. It does not mean everything has changed for the for all overnight. Grow up. Rome was not built in a day.
Prof Saasa tell us something new instead of empty recycled gibberish like “above average”.If the economy of zed has been in the top ten fastest growing isn’t that already above average so whats new?
Statistics statistics statistics again that have no meaning to what is on the ground?sounds like an echo from a hired gun if you ask me
so what would you rather use.
@4.1, commodities?
I couldn’t have stated it any better. Prof. Saasa where is the statistical data to back what you are saying?
@ number 1,Owu Mulola Wendi? its not about mealie meal. What other things are happening instead of mealie meal. The problem with many Zambian is they no too little of economic….shame on you
I’m very sure that I know a lot more about what is happening in Zambia than you do. Tell me what is not going down right now. If you can’t feed your children or dependants in your house, you can’t claim that the economy is getting better, can you? Even blind loyalty to PF does not sink to that level of stupidity! Today we have mealie-meal shortages in some parts of the country: this is the first time Zambia is experiencing mealie-meal shortages since 1992. That says something about the party in power. Continue wallowing in your own mediocrity, but the rest of tghe country are not as ignorant as you are. So we are not the same.
If it’s not about mealie meal, then what’s it about? If an economy fails to supply the basic needs such as “nshima”, how can such an economy be said to be “performing above average”? Performing above average means going beyond “nshima and kapenta” or the proverbial “bread and butter.” It does sound to me that Zambia’s economy is on a downward slide the Chirundu road heading toward Zimbabwe.
This is a stale statement
Now even the Nubian Princess is talking!
Seleni tutombeko.
Mushoteshe ubunga na fuel, ba mambala
Mwibeko te, amano pa ndalama guys rebase ili mu length.
Zambians are good at talking, passing comments without analysing the context and what is happening around. Most can not go beyond micro in analysing the national economic status. I am sure you dont expect the whole Prof of economics to base his comments on mealie meal. There are lots of areas that indicate how a country is doing. For example a politician’s statement can change the course of the countries economy overnight. Unless we understand how we are doing, we risk being stagnant. Its time tonbuild on what has been achieved in Zed over the past few years, MMD or PF (remember there a slight shift and we need to understand that and move on)
Mr. micro analysis give me 5 things can be said to be indicators of your purported growth?I will give u 5 things that are haywire ryt now:
1.kwacha depreciation
2.agri sector(farming-fertiliser, reduced maize output, unpaid farmers etc in disarray)
3.high alarming corruption in the highest offices
4.evident increasing poverty levels
5.political uncertainty and hostile economic environment.
All these I have given u contribute in direct proportional to economic growth, which planet are u 4rm, or mayb u r one of the cronies who is benefiting becoz of being a relative to mcs
Let me tell you something. A lot of you like commenting on economics when you understand ZERO about economics. Mealie-meal is one of the key micro-economic indicators for Zambia’s economic performance and household livelihood, simply because it is the staple food in Zambia. The last time we had mealie-meal queues in Zambia (20 years ago) Zambia was one of the poorest and worst performing economies in the world. That is where this economy is headed. Stop playing politicis with people’s lives. You are saying it is time to build on what has been achieved: to the contrary, this government has been dismantling what has been achieved by MMD govt. Farmers up to now are still not paid in most parts of the country and farming inputs up to now have not been distributed. The list goes on…
Good comment. Enomics is not about the price of unga today, may be how it has performed over a period of time added to other economic activities. So far so good.
That’s the kind of thinking that is driving Zambia into the ground. If you don’t know that the price of unga is a major economic factor in Zambia then you certainly don’t know a single thing about economics.
As usual he doesn’t know what his talking about. Please Saasa just go see Sata the Human Resource Manager instead of lying.
Uhh.. “Saasa” and “Sata” they sound as though they come from together. Are they cousins?
Saasa is being economical with facts and truth of his statement which is more political than expert comment. He speaks like he does not live in zambia. copper price is not controlled by zed,there have not been much inflow of FDI in the last 12 months. mealie mea prices must be lower they are day before the shortage Anyway economics is a useless jargon to confuse the masses and can never study it.
“Being economical with facts and truth” meaning he is not telling the truth, sort of like telling the government what they want to hear. I get your point. It’s mere propaganda, But it’s not propaganda that people eat. In matters of this kind, one can’t afford to be untruthful when the reality is glaringly different. Probably that’s Prof. Saasa’s way to beat the economy by being a false prophet.
I, doubt if the growth you are talking about is reflected in the lives of the average Zambian or it’s just a talk to intice Sata.
If only MMD didnt give away the mines…people could have been smiling! PF do your thing!!! There I go again…I seem to always forget that Ba Sata was MMD at the time…poverty continues…
people who thing like you still exist?what are you talking about. before MMD wisely sold the mines where you smiling. how old are?
Mines ? Awe tata naimwe.
No doubt both of you fellows are scientists…keep to the labs boys
Professor Saasa you not serious with your profession and perhaps you must consider retiring very early because you are another disappointing non-academic entity. The most important deciding factors here are Zambia’ s industrial strategic policies, if at all it has any. Many investors have already invested in Zambia in considerable large numbers and what is your ministry or Sata doing to control ownership of those investments in relation to citizens? What are you doing to control the registration of those foreign owned mining firms in relation to the citizens? What are you doing to ensure that there is faster transfer of technology from foreign investors to Zambian firms in exchange for the continued participation of the TRCs in the local market? The training of Zambians is very important.
It is true that some proffesors in zambia are dillutional. which planent is this so called fake proffesor coming from. i guess not zambia otherwise he should not have been talking this garbage equivalent from a kantembe seller. Growth in econonmy when the exchange rate is at K5500. Farmers have not being paid by government. the haverst for this year was small.blah,blah,blah these are simply text book economists with no touch with what is happening on the ground. Hospitals are in total problems with medicines….god help zambia to have real profesors and i wonder what student this guy is producing with this out of touch garbage coming from his mouth.
I think he must have taught a one miles sampa at one time, the echo at the same resonance
Saasa you must know that growing the economy is not about pleasing the investors all the time especially the TRCs or the multinationals but placing the nation’s objectives first e.g. the Koreans or the Taiwianese they developed their economies by adopting strategic industrial policies so did other progressive emerging markets such the Brazilian market or the Indian market.Your bargaining chip is clustered around the mining sector and other identified crucial sectors i.e. agriculture. Of course we need a stable political climate but that already exists there. Turn around and look at the investors,and extract value from them by using your bargaining chip in a very clever way and you will not jump the gun. Sata is appointing seating ducks for nothing but to promote his tribal mates, shameful
seleni GBM abomkeko!
he is making a killing off his maize at 80pin
Even this growth the PF are wrongly proud of belongs to the hard working MMD government.It is the MMD that laid this foundation.
It is Saasa talking and not PF
this guy is the dullest i ve ever seen…no wonder i dnt like wasting time with these so called social scientists.
!!!This is why people say the opposition in Zambia is weak. A lot of things are going wrong but the opposition leaders are busy fighting their members. Speak of real issues. SATA has allowed CBU to rot in corruption. CBU will continue experiencing the same headaches as long as leaders are put in corruptly. The search committee recommended Prof. Tembo for VC this is fact. The search committee appointed Dr. Libati for DVC also fact. What did the minister do? SATA check the recommendations from the search committee. CBU cannot continue being manipulated by a few individuals. Watch the space.
Goodless for life and always will be a villager for ever however educated I am. Come what may, I will always offer my support to my brother HH. I will always be what I am because when I wake up I always know that my money multiplies itself.
I like the comments…it shows Mr. Saasa lives in utopia… By the way Saasa can call himself professor, doctor,or whatever but that doesn’t make him any wiser…so excuse the guy, he is drunk with self interest.
Is he related to Sikota Wina?
Saasa maybe on paper yes, but Zambian people are not interested in scholarly analysis of economic issues , they want tangible or physical results of these economical analysis, meaning they want Nshima and butter on their tables mwaufwa prof Saasa? Happy thanksgiving everyone.
This analysis is not anything one may call “scholarly”, not even in Zambia.
This chap is looking for a job by the look of things. How can he say the country’s economy has performed exceptionally well when fuel, mealie meal are in short supply people have been taken back to the UNIP days of queuing. Not to mention the kwacha against the dollar exchange…This should be a dull prof.
No such a thing as a “dull prof.” He is probably just hungry and wants to be a little more “creative.”
The prof. is 100% correct when you look at GDP. the question we should ask his lofty point is how that same average performance translates to the greater good of all of us Zambians.
Can UNZA don pull the prof to responde?
I am not an economist but I am an engineer and to be honest in all fairness engineers are practical. Give an engineer a company or an organisation to run and immediately you will see the change. Economists talk, talk and talk and use all sorts of jargon and theories but at the end of the day nothing positive is achieved.
this chap is not an economist, these are fake economists out there trying to worship the Zambian human resources director (sata) for Jobs. what economic indicators is he talking about? unemployment is high, prices of stable foods are rising. inflation rates are rising. our kwacha is weakening. can copper prices whose proceeds are sent to home countries of the mining companies be an economic positive economic indicator to zambia? Fr saasa check yourself. you are not normal.
At least people like you are still there.
practical things like nshima on table will come much later, but the current situation is what the prof was basically bringing out to the nation,it might not be good to others but its the truth,these are the results investors look for before choosing where to invest.Anyone prove otherwise if you dont agree with the statistics,thumbs up prof
The amount of anger among the bloggers is worrying. The professor is not talking about mealie meal in Kitwe this month. He is talking about the whole Zambia this year. Please read between the lines. I just bought a 25kg bag of mealie meal at 49,000 and I did not queue. I did not queue for fuel either. UPND’s stratergy of campaigning is to make a horror story out of Zambia. For us that vote we use our eyes.
Please school us and not rhetoric
Such thinking needs a license, probably you so dull cant even realize it. What is important in life is where you are now and where you are going not where you came from..PF has created chaos these shortages will eventually spread through out the country. Dont just think of yourself since you have mealie meal and fuel that everything is ok. travel around the country or ask around the country is in trouble. Most farmers have not been paid. You have to start reasoning beyond politics
And what exactly did PF do when in opposition if not campaign to make a horror story out of Zambia?
most of you guys are dull ,economic growth is not about ubunga mwebatutu imwe
People, is this prof seeing what we are seeing? propaganda at its best.
why dont you publish my comment????????
This Barotseland professor is trying very hard to impress the Zambian Director of Human Resources (Sata) for a job. Since the DHR recently appointed a British professor to run Zambia Railways we will not be surprised if he appointed the professor from Barotseland to be in charge of the economic affairs of Zed.
At what University does this Professor teach? I really pity his students. I can`t believe an economist at his level can analyse an economy of a country the way he did.
#33 &34 the ZRL WAS A GOOD APPOINTMENT lets move away from that, if your Barotseland prof is incharge of economic affair its another plus to GRZ choosing professionals and not unlearned ralatives.Right direction GRZ ANY ALTERNATIVES ON ECONOMY BLOGGERS?.
I see a lot of people on this blog who will go without a meal despite all other food stuffs in house ati tatukwete ubunga. Is Zambia all about mealie meal? Can the gorvernment get to Kitwe and investigate. We cannot have a country with maize going to waste, roting and at the same time have a shortage of mealie meal. I fail to understand the maize marketing in Zambia. Why does the gorverment provide subsidised fertilizer to farmers? why do they buy maize from them? Can the farmers grow maize commercially, store by themselves and sale to whoever they want to sale to even Congolese?
please boss chachine even in Lusaka today mealie meal prices have been increased by K 5000. you can imagine
Tell them. kikikikiki
The economy has improved in proff Sass`s stomach, this man is an ***** atii ba pro,,, profyoto fimo fimo uko, better you shut up if you an`t gut none to say fool.
The prof is talking about economic growth which is the capacity of an economy to produce goods and services, compared from one period of time to another. It’s true that the country has achieved economic growth so far based on some positive economic indicators he has mentioned. He did not talk about economic development that generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area.
Are you not just being creative in your definition of “economic growth”?
Saasa is too broke to make a correct analysis of the state of affairs.Through out his miserable life he has never observed anything negative about this economy.of course his main aim is to land a huge presidential appointment but every president who comes along doesnt take note of his ranting.
The best that can out out of Indunas from Barotseland. I dont blame him, but blame the senate of the university that conferred professorship onto him. Even my village grandmother can analyze the going on better
That’s an outstanding village grandmother you have, and most certainly, an exception.
Seleni tubombeko
You have been doing that for years and we are still in the same mess…seleni my foot
It is only in his books. The statistics don’t support his conclusion. Saasa and Sata are close names and can only speak the same language. Economic growth includes ubunga just in case u didn’t know.
The reporting is terrible. He said He said He said He said He said. How did what he said conform with whats happening? Ba ZANIS you have reporters?
Prof sawa sawa my foot. This guy is an Idio¥ when it come to Eco analysis. Ubufi too much.
Which Zambia are you talking about? Gambia or Namibia maybe not Zambia with a Z. unfortunately things are worsening not improving, come and see how we are fatching water in Kabulonga Kwati nikwa Misisi, and Electricty is not there for use. Go to UTH and see what is happening or may be Google mealie meal prices in Copperbelt and then publish what you have written,. lets wait for 2016…
That’s as devastating as can be. I can see that the PF government is now working. Expect more drama in the foreseeable near future. The PF do mean business and it will be business unusual this time around. Nice you are looking forward to 2016.. that’s long enough time for the PF in action to bring everything down.
Man still consumed with econic averages while the rest are looking for practical indicators
Any way that is what the international communities know about zambia, but our politicians need to be carefull how to do their politics, they should have zambians at heart not to harm them
The problem of theory versus reality and thats what many people with too many books in the head subsist on! Go tell a struggling family that the economy is doing better and receive applause
I’d rather have a small piece of a bigger cake than a big piece of a small case. Grow economy, grow! In any case, the economy needs to grow for private businesses to grow for economic opportunities to increase.
The situation on the ground is pathetic businesses are literally having a very tough time .i have not seen any change .how can somebody say that the economy is doing fine we need to see results on the ground.
And all of you here passing comments are not in Zambia ad have probably never been for some time. Just shut up:((:((
The proffessor is wrong especially if he says $2-$3 billion in the mining sector exports,how much of this actually finds itself back to Zambia.If the Zambian government has earned such amounts from mining then what would be the need of borrowing $750m in euro bonds!The proffessor should learn to be clinical and explain that out of $3billy dollars,only a small fraction gets back to Zambia.With mealie meal shortages ati economic boom…..ma rubbish bati!!
There are times when I do think one of the major problems facing Zambia as a country is lack of well qualified, skilled and practical Economists and business managers. We all know that some people may have attended very good universities, have excellent papers and book knowledge and they are even lecturers and professors at universities but then they are only full of rhetoric. I am a Kenyan who has worked and lived in Zambia for many years and I know what ails Zambian economy. There is simply no money in most people’s pockets, output is low, the level of infrastructural development is low, planning is poor, District councils are simply not functional and therefore do not facilitate creation of wealth, lots of corrupt practices in allocation of factors of production e.g. land etc.