Former Finance Minister Ng’andu Magande has questioned the Bank of Zambia’s observation that the country’s 2014 economic prospects still remain strong despite the Kwacha’s continued poor performance against other global currencies.
Central Bank Governor Michael Gondwe last Saturday announced that Zambia’s economic growth for the 2014 is still expected to go way over 7 percent this year.
But Mr. Magande has wondered where the Central Bank is basing its projections to suggest that the country’s foreign exchange has no bearing on the economy.
Mr. Magande told Qfm News in a telephone interview that unless the Central Bank has done a comprehensive research on the country’s economy in line with the impact of the weakening Kwacha, it could only be trying to instill confidence in the economy to project that Zambia’s 2014 economic prospects still remain strong.
He said the Central Bank is supposed to do an assessment on the private sector in specific sectors or industries for it to understand exactly what the effects of the weakening kwacha will be on the country’s economic prospects.
The former Finance Minister also observed that going by the manner in which the Kwacha has been performing in the past weeks, the performance of the economy by the end of the year may only be impacted by how the recently acquired US$1 billion will be invested in the economy.
[QFM]
only time will tell.
No need to wait. Today BoZ fix for USD at 12.30 K6.4444 to USD 1.00
Magande, you are a good economist but the only problem is you joining politics and its not your thing..please advise our Prosident in confidence on what has gone wrong with our economy if you mean good for our country…
The president calls his ministers and MPs useless in public but you are advising Magande to advise the President in confidence if he means well. Have you provided the same advice to the President to advise his ministers in confidence if he means well? Are you aware that the president has called one of his ministers a fool in public? Anyway this is in case you have just boarded the bus, just giving you some tips on what you could have missed.
Mr. Bank Governor is obviously clueless.
Gondwe should be advised his is to look at monetary policy not economic policy these are statements that should come from Minister of Finance. In essence he should have speaking about how the local currency will be stabilized in the next projections or how he intends to ensure the interest rates are not too high! Sha
Minimal reduction in Kwacha value can trigger exports thereby balancing the import bill. How about that? It is not helpful to find fault at every turn. The policy of accelerated rapid infrastructure development will lead to growth and employment creation. Give each other the chance to achieve results.
Let’s face it, the country made a grave mistake when they voted Sata in State House, he is clueless and so are all the people he surrounds himself with. The reason Sata appoints these useless people, who more often than not, thinks with their bellies, is because he is a control freak that likes to push people around; such thuggery becomes increasingly difficult when the person know their stuff and is independently in their thinking.
Sata is a “want-to-be” Mugabe that believes he was appointed King by the Zambian people; he somehow doesn’t realize that he is a Public Servant like all other government worker. The root of the problem with Sata is that he does not know how to serve and doesn’t listen (i.e. taking constructive criticism and/or advice in stride). If someone tries to show…
him his follies, he takes it personally and declares war. Zero leadership skills….. The guy is a knuckle-dragger!