VICE President Guy Scott has said the 2014 National Budget will shift its focus towards income distribution for the benefit of the poor.
Speaking during the launch of the Zambia Economic Briefs, in Lusaka yesterday Dr Scott said there should be a distinction between income distribution and job creation.
He said income distribution such as cash transfers and community based activities among others, were important as opposed to merely finding jobs for the people.
“There is need to distinguish between income distribution and job creation and that is why the 2014 budget will shift its focus on job creation to income distribution activities,” Dr scott said.
The Vice President also said that there was need to find ways and means of handling the natural resources which Zambia is endowed with for the benefit of citizens and the youth in particular.
He said there was considerable arable land and water resources in most parts of Zambia such as Luapula province, which could be harnessed to increase earnings of the rural people and reduce poverty.
He said stakeholders should work together and find practical and feasible solutions to the issue of jobs which was one of Zambia’s challenges.
And World Bank Country Director Kundhavi Kadiresan has advised Zambia to use foreign debts prudently.
Ms Kadiresan said Zambia continued to experience decent economic growth, but that there were emerging challenges and risks ahead.
She said one of the emerging challenges in economic management were the country’s capacity to use costly foreign debt in an efficient manner and keeping personnel costs low so that essential expenditure on health and education services for the poor were not crowded out.
“The copper prices, which are currently under pressure, could cause instability to Zambia’s mining industry.
“I must say from the very onset that this report is not intended to provide solutions to Zambia’s job challenge. The days of the World Bank coming with prescribed solutions are long gone,” she said.
She said the brief merely provided a mirror to realities on the ground that should enable all stakeholders to look at the challenge from a fresh perspective.
Ms Kadiresan said ways of increasing productivity in agriculture should be found so that poor farmers were able to get returns from their labour.
This, she said was so because urban youth unemployment was a serious issue as urban jobs were growing at a very slow pace.
While creating formal private sector jobs was a priority, another equally huge development priority was to improve people’s living standards and earnings for working Zambians.
“Equally, we should improve the quality and access to basic education which forms the foundation on which future skill building rests,” Ms Kadiresan said.
Maybe i just dont understand but please correct me if im wrong, how does a nation like zambia focus on income distribution when clearly people need jobs, how do you distribute something you are not making. The VP is talking about finding jobs for people, this is different from job creation. PF dont run away from the intially policy that brought you into power, these guys need to lay foundations for visible minorities such as students, fishermen and farmers to have jobs, foundations on the provincial level. awe some things unga polike mutima zo’ona, isn’t it common sense that functioning governement needs to create jobs.
It’s because they have realized they can’t create jobs. So change of strategy or message to the people. Now people will be made to understand that there’s no income to distribute. No one is expected to force the government to explain lack of jobs
Income distribution is socialism. We want decent jobs created so that people can have their own income which they can distribute as they want. Please don’t take us back to hand-outs. It wont work!
Guy Scott, would rather the Finance Minister gives us such information than coming from you.
Let’s not pre-empty the budget please.
prepare for HIGH PAYE LOL
That is what the VP is telling you……..
definitely agree
Utter stupidity. How can you distribute income and wealth when it doesn’t exist yet? Zambia’s GDP of US$22 billion is roughly equivalent to one quarter’s revenue for a large company like Apple or Exxon Mobil- that despite the fact that we have an abundance of arable land, fresh water, various minerals and other natural resources. How can this guy talk about distributing income when the income isn’t even maximized yet? How can he speak of distributing income when the government’s own fiscal deficit is widening! Unless of course that is code for increasing the tax rate on the middle class because of his government’s ineptitude in managing the fiscus.
bill gates had a total networth of 70 billion dollars mudala, he even gate away ka 28 billion,.,,,the whole zambia? i dont wanna say. this is worrying, where did we go wrong?
Where do you want me to start? lol
dont even start, it will take you the remainder of your natural life to analyze haha. LOL
The government’s focus ought to be on increasing business activity, widening and deepening the private sector, increasing FDI exponentially and allowing interest rates to organically decline instead of crowding out the credit market as it currently the case. Job creation ought to be the focus, one can only speak of income distribution when the economy is sturdy and has low levels of unemployment but huge income inequalities that need to be addressed. After-all there needs to be a wide enough tax base to finance the same income distribution, otherwise you are taxing the poor to give to the poorer. Build a meaningful middle-class first, then you can begin to think of ideas such as those.
this is a code of spend it all! by the time it is finished, they are out of power mudala hahaha. this is a stand up comedy/.
Just sale the country to an individual
Things went wrong the day u voted pf into power, u voted in economic decline, emploment mirage!
The “GINI Coefficient”
Before you start talking about income distribution, why not concentrate how to create income generation, Otherwise there is nothing to distribute as nothing tangible was created to be distributed.
ba Pepa Fwaka…what variety have they sniffed this time?!! inome distribution from another Eurobond? have we not given enough to our bloeted inefficient civil service already?
Things went wrong the day u voted pf into power, u voted in economic decline, emploment mirage!