Zambia recorded its lowest investment pledges in recent history when it received a meagre US$1.1 billion in the first six months of the year.
The country recorded US$3.6 billion investment pledges over the same period in 2014.
Zambia Development Agency Director General Patrick Chisanga who revealed the development during a media briefing in Lusaka Tuesday morning blamed the low investor appetite on the January 20 presidential election.
Zambia held a tightly presidential election on January 20 which saw Edgar Lungu elected President following the death of President Michael Sata.
“We recorded US$3.6 billion in investment pledges in the first half of 2014 but we have seen a reduced in 2015 over the same period, we received US$1.1 billion since the start of the year. This reduction can be attributed in part to the presidential election activities we had in January right through to February and normally, investors in any country particularly in Africa want to step back,” Mr Chisanga said.
He added, “The good news is that we have started receiving more inquiries from potential investors and we are hopeful that the figure will improve.”
And Mr Chisanga has revealed that Dangote Cement Zambia is keen on developing a second cement plant in the Chongwe area of Lusaka province after commission the US$400 million Masaiti plant in Ndola rural.
He said the new plant whose planned investment cost has not been disclosed will further help lower the cost of cement which has been reducing since Dangote started flooding the Zambian market with its cement products.
“Many of you have seen the impact of that investment on the Zambian market, the price of cement has reduced from an average of K 82 to somewhere around K62. Those are some of the benefits of investment in key sectors of the economy. To ease the cost of doing business and improve the standards of living for our people,” Mr Chisanga said.
Mr Chisanga also revealed that an additional 460 megawatts of power will be put on stream once ongoing projects are completed by December 2015.
He said the agency is confident that the amount of load shedding will significantly reduce once the projects being developed are completed.
“We have concretised for projects which we hope will come on stream by December this year the Maamba thermal plant being developed by Nava Bharat and ZCCM-IH, this will add 130 MW, the second is the Itezhi Tezhi hydro power plant which will generate 120 MW and will also have the Kabompo hydro power station by CEC which will contribute 40 MW,” Mr Chisanga said.
And on the impact of ongoing load shedding on investor confidence, Mr Chisanga said investors are sympathetic to the situation and are confident that the situation will normalise.
He also dispelled assertion that the increased load shedding is due to corruption and inefficiency at ZESCO but that load shedding is affecting the entire region due to low water in the water bodies.
zambisns have equally lost appetite for Pf govt because of poverty that is hitting the country.
Investment “pledges” or actual projects?
Gone with the wind! This is apocalyptic…
Because the international community know that PF is going nowhere
No sane investor would invest in a country that has no economic plan, visionless president, dull ministers, unclear tax regime, policy inconsistencies etc. I really must question the mindset of the people here that declare PF and Lungu to be the best thing that ever happened to Zambia. People like Patriot Abroad who seem intelligent but would rather throw away this intelligence even when facts like these are presented. Facts based on we, the so called bitter opposition, are always talking about. Figures do not lie and they do not align themselves with any political party. Any economist worth his salt had already predicted this just like any Zambian who runs a household would have predicted this. You cannot borrow yourself to development. Never!
Ba Lipota what is recent history?
Well, the economic outlook of the country is bleak, the debt levels are high, implying that current investors will have to be paying the loans in the next few years through high taxes! Only very high profit yielding and short term investments make sense in this environment! To expect serious investors to come in such an country is both insane and a joke! Thus, let all those who pride themselves in debt know that there also something called debt overhang
He who refuses to learn from advice MUST learn from experience.
No surprise here. Who would be rushing into a country with visionless leadership, load shedding, policy inconsistency, high taxes and when you seek to send funds out its at a bad exchange rate. Also, the government does not talk to private sector, borrowing is excessive and cost of business is high with no functional rail line.
Ifintu ni Lungu
Has nobody blamed “the cartel” yet? They must be sleeping
You don’t expect any sane investor to come over to Zambia in the absence of Economical commitment from politicians. The president seems to think his Job is to travel from place to place, has no clear agenda for the economy or anything else, his cabinet is equally clueless, the c-evil service is rife with corruption and nothing else seems to work at all.
If you think of it, it’s very annoying.
Our area has now clocked over 23 hrs without ZESCO power. ‘ZESCO, Failing the Nation’, but good at excuses.
33 (thirty-three) hours gone and still no Zesco power. That is how efficient ZESCO is!
Zesco power now back on after 35 hrs. Thanks for the effort anyway.