Opposition UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has challenged the PF Government to stop crying about the record Kwacha depreciation but to start providing viable solutions.
The breached the K 9 to a US dollar mark, falling to an all time low and becoming the worst performing currency in te world.
In his Facebook posting, Mr Hichilema said those in authority must show leadership and put in place measures to arrest the situation.
He said addressing the rising cost of living due to the ever falling Kwacha is what should preoccupy the country and not fixing political opponents.
Mr Hichilema Zambians should by now be having serious policy announcements on tackling economic issues and ongoing job losses in various sectors.
“We can no longer remain an import dependant country when we have vast resources that just need even minimal value additions for export and earn foreign exchange to stabilise the Kwacha,” he said.
“We can’t continue crying and complaining without viable solutions being put in place by those in authority.”
Our currency is pathetic but it’s not the worst in the world. That’s just hyperbole.
Here are the bottom five in the world:
5. Sao Tome and Principe ($1 = 14,350 dobra)
4. Vietnam ($1 = 16,975 dong)
3. Turkmenistan ($1 = 24,000 manat)
2. Somalia ($1 = 35,000 shillings)
1. Zimbabwe ($1 = 642,371,437,695, 221,000)
So you are happy to have us in the same sentence as Somalia, Zimbabwe et al why not include Syria you cadre
Cadre spellcheck my friend, if you want anyone to pick a quarrel with, pick on the American monetary Association. They are the ones who provided those figures.
The problem is not the rate no, the problem the issue is the speed at which our currency is loosing value. You can’t compare to these other countries because they have been experiencing that kind of trend for a long time. How did L.P. Mwanawasa manage to control devaluation of the ZMK as well as reduce inflation?.
You feel good that per currency is not the worst. Eh! It is because of fake people like you that Zambia is going behind everyday. You have missed the whole point that our economy is dying. You just feel happy that there are worse currency than ours. Typical PF dumbness!
The real president has spoken. The acting president Lungu cannot even face the Zambian public and discuss this problem and take questions from the press. No guts at all.
Viva HH
Lungu, messed up, he formed his cabinate out of emotions?? If I where him? I would have kept Guy Scott as his Vice President.
Chikwanda is too old for Finance Minister and we just need a full overhaul of the who Government. What tangible contribution would Madam Wina bring to modern developments?
Zambians have to get serious. We cant have these cadre based posts which will kill out country.
The key word there is performing, not the rate of exchange. You can have a rate of 10 jaw ha as long as it is stable then that’s fine.
The Zambian curse is one we have created for ourselves. Maybe one day we will look beyond tribe and race. Dr Scott would have completed the remaining term, but no, he is this and that, bluh, bluh.. HH would have been in State House had it not been for tribalism and rigging. Maybe one day we will see beyond tribe and race.
Please tell me, what serious economic influence or change has Mr Lungu done? Nothing! Not because he doesnt want to, but he doesnt know what to do, period!
In the meantime, high cost of living continues with the Kwacha rated as the worst performer in the whole world.
Okay, just a small correction, the Ghanaian Cedi is currently the worst performer.. Also the Rand is doing very bad: *****
@Nyau, dont mislead people, the article you posted is old. Im sure when we get the updated rating by this friday, the Kwacha would have been the worst. For now, its safer to say that the Kwacha is one of the worst performers in the world.
Thanks.
Nyau, “worst in the world” means the rate at which the Kwacha has depreciated has been the fastest in recent interest.
Sadly, you have bought into HH’s schemes. Check out the goings on in Brazil (right now in deep recession) see the slide of the DAX, NIKKEI, and ALL Canadian indicators, the Chinese slump, etc. We are in an economic dip worldwide. I agree with what HH says in principle, but our strength must be directed intra-Africa, the dollar has stifled competition. The sad part is most hakaindeans will bare assshole in support of a half truth coming from a person who has himself for a ‘quicksale commodity’.
Kakolwe, I’ve a bone to chew with your reasoning. Am sure you are a PF cadre already decided on defending Lungu no matter the amount of torture we Zambians go through. Most currencies may fall in value for two or three weeks due to the slump in the Chinese economy while our kwacha has continued losing value the past 4 years. Let’s not bury our heads in the sand and start blaming the world for problems we Zambia are creating. In August, 2011, the kwacha was trading at K4.78 to $1 and K6.00 to $1 in August 2013. Currently the kwacha is K9.08 to $1. What does the global economy has to do with our failure to manage our currency since 2011 sir? Be objective in your debate sir. The fall of the kwacha is down to PF. From the date PF came to power, the kwacha has been under pressure. Its as…
the rand is performing worse than the kwacha
Last week K1.00 could get you R1.60, today it can only get you R1.30. In your simple mind, which is the worst performing of the two?
*recent history, sorry
Then you also have clue-less tin heads like Sunday C. Telling pipo not to question the vast amounts of manee used by the first lady on her philaphathy work.
Give us news on what GRZ is doing to improve the economy instead of going on air to show how shallow PF really is.
ba One,
I remember reading an article last year,, on Bloomberg.com, if I’m not mistaken. It was about Zambia’s currency having depreciated the most rapidly that one month alone. There were worse currencies before that month and since.
But let me confess that I’m no economist.
The way I look at it, HH is just talking to himself here. If these guys knew what to do, they would have done it eons ago. There is simply no capacity for the current administration to do anything about the problems the country is undergoing. There seems to be no conscious effort on the part of the leadership to do anything to halt the economic slide. Funny enough, people are still very much in support of PF. This is not surprising. Zimbabwe went through the same slow but sure slide into obscurity to a point where Mugabe had to swallow his own vomit by adopting the US$ as the national currency. Zambians, we are still waiting to see if we can get there?
That’s a fair comment, we might just find ourselves into another Zimbabwe. Unfortunately HH and his fellow politicians don’t seem to have solutions to the dwindling economy or is he waiting to ascend to power? It will be too late to fix. Look at the defunct Morgan Changarai, what did he do when he was government to fix things? Nothing it was too late to fix anything. I just hope it’s not another nonsensical theory of fixing the economy in 90 days.
ba Saimbwende,
I think you can take your finger and randomly point at a map of Zambia. And then go to that spot, ask for any man or woman who can read and write and put that person in state house. They could not possibly perform any worse than the current PF government.
HH is has found cheap political capital.He will only deceive shallow minds.M happy by next year,the economy will ve been fixed and it will be plain sailing for PF.
Sorry to disappoint you La Liga. If this govt knew how to fix the economy as easy as you make it, we would not have come to this in the first place.
Fact is they have no clue on how to do it!!!!!
@ la liga
And the cheap political capital has been provided by very expensive and very 5tupid and incompetent mismanagement by whom?
Spot on! HH is just bluffing he can’t be the only person with brains to fix the economy that’s just cheap politicking.
Unfortunately we are not going to get any serious sensible solutions from these Poor Fools.
They are too busy with “politics of the belly” to worry about the suffering of ordinary Zambians.
Taxpayers are there to pay for medical tourism and holidays, not development.
Man of the moment hh continue advising this dull chaps
Comment:
Icilema is a SHAMELESS liar. Can only succeed in dribbling fellow pastoralists. Going forward all sensible people must lump him with the infamous cartel.
The problem with you Zambians you have this blind support even when you can see that things are going from bad to worse pf will not solve these economic issues wake up the President is busy fixing Districts Edgar Lungu is a bad man for the job at state house. HH is not the problem here but you the voters do the right thing.
DENIAL RESULTS IN NOTHING BUT WORSENING OF AN EXISTING PROBLEM. THE PF CAN NOT RUN AWAY FROM THE TRUTH. THEY HAVE NOT MANAGED THE ECONOMY WELL. THE EEFECTS CIRCUMSTANCES WE ARE FACING CAN BE MITIGATED. AT SOME POINT MONETARY POLICY TECHNIQUES WILL HAVE TO BE EMPLOYED. THE SPIRAL THAT IS SWALLOWING THE VALUE OF OUR SAVINGS IS CREATING A SERIOUS ECONOMIC VACUUM. NEXT THING IS A RUN ON THE BANKS WHICH WILL CREATE A HYPERINFLATION CONDITION. BOZ NEEDS TO START ADRESSING INTEREST RATES NOW. WE NEED URGENT UP TICK IN INVESTMENT. REDUCTION OF DEFICIT AND LOWER DEMAND FOR FORIEGN EXCHANGE FOR NON ESSENTIAL IMPORTS. HARD AS THIS IS TO SWALLOW WE MUST AS A MATTER OF URGENCY CONSIDER PROTECTIONISM AND REDUCE THE PRESSURE ON THE KWACHA. ELSE WE ARE IN DEEP DEEP TROUBLE.
When signing regional trade agreements GRZ forgot that Zambia manufactures nothing but only opens shopping malls all the time. Even me with my limited knowledge, know that before I sign trade agreements with my neighbours I must consider my capacity to produce in the long term.
Awe kuya bebele
Wen dealing with Cadres,,even when they see that the road lead to a very high cliff,they will argue that there is no cliff but just a sharp bend to drive around..
Its the same here,,things are getn to the dogs and they will die being dogs instead of being realistic that the driver ECL is very much Clueless of Sending all of us straight to “Hell”..
So,only when they are abt to burn thats when they will realise that they should have repented…Lungu,,Nalungusha ifintu Period.
Cadre are the most foolish people on earth because they don’t believe in having a brain and using it as such they just yap without sense
Mr Hichilema Zambians should by now be having serious policy announcements on tackling economic issues and ongoing job losses in various sectors.
HH President wapa social media
ALL mistakes are bound to be corrected. We made a poor decision in choosing EL as president and now our country is in a mess. I have resolved to channel my vote to someone else this time not PF.
Zambians Zambians lets get to accept that things are not well in our country. Lets be serious this is about our well being not for HH ,It is about putting bread and butter on our tables.PF have failed to provide leadership in all aspects of the Zambain economy ,since its as who employment lets fire them and put in another Government after all Zambia belongs to all 72 tribes.Iam a pealing to youths to vote wisely ,we don’t want to end like those brothers and sisters in Syria and other countries who are dying while seeking asylum in Europe. Lets remove Lungu and correct the situation. Mwanawasa and Magande did it when the whole world was under reassertion including USA our Economy survived. Lets try HH an economist he can save us.
Awee mwandini even if you had faith, it can be broken with this kind of economic management. I for one will offer to campaign for HH in Northern, Muchinga and Luapula province because I am really getting fed up with the current situation. We need change bane, let’s be realistic!
WE LONG WARNED YOU THAT LUNGU WAS NOT THE RIGHT PERSON TO BE PRESIDENT OF ZAMBIA. WE PLEADED WITH YOU TO VOTE FOR HH SO THAT EVERY ZAMBIAN BENEFITS FROM HIS LEADERSHIP, INCLUDING YOURSELVES, BUT YOU GUYS PAINTED HH BLACK, JUST BECAUSE HE IS TONGA, YET THE MAN IS THE RIGHT PERSON TO FIX OUR ECONOMY SO THAT WE CAN BE A PROUD, GROWING NATION IN OUR ECONOMY. YOU WENT FOR LUNGU WHO IS BUSY SLEEPING ON DUTY, AND BUSY LOOTING OUR NATION. WHAT A SHAME! HH HAS SPOKEN WISDOM. LET US ALL SUPPORT THIS MAN SO THAT WE USE HIM TO DEVELOP OUR COUNTRY. SUPPORT HH FOR 2016 ELECTIONS PLEASE. VIVA HH VIVA! VIVA UPND VIVA!
WE LONG WARNED YOU THAT LUNGU WAS NOT THE RIGHT PERSON TO BE PRESIDENT OF ZAMBIA. WE PLEADED WITH YOU TO VOTE FOR HH SO THAT EVERY ZAMBIAN BENEFITS FROM HIS LEADERSHIP, INCLUDING YOURSELVES, BUT YOU GUYS PAINTED HH BLACK, JUST BECAUSE HE IS TONGA, YET THE MAN IS THE RIGHT PERSON TO FIX OUR ECONOMY SO THAT WE CAN BE A PROUD, GROWING NATION IN OUR ECONOMY. YOU WENT FOR LUNGU WHO IS BUSY SLEEPING ON DUTY, AND BUSY LOOTING OUR NATION. WHAT A SHAME! HH HAS SPOKEN WISDOM. LET US ALL SUPPORT THIS MAN SO THAT WE USE HIM TO DEVELOP OUR COUNTRY. SUPPORT HH FOR 2016 ELECTIONS PLEASE. VIVA HH VIVA! VIVA UPND VIVA! TRUE ZAMBIANS SHALL NOT RELENT UNTIL THE IDEAL PRESIDENT RULES OUR COUNTRY FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL, NOT JUST THE SELECTED FEW. OUR ALTERNATIVE NOW IS HH.
kuyabebele mu 2016
Zambians!Zambians!..Please lets wake up from slumber,much as we understand that the free fall of the Kwacha is attributed to the economic situation in china, we should accept the fact that the PF govt. has failed in as far as the economic management of this country is concerned.They have failed to stabilize the kwacha since 2011 when they took over Govt. and they continue to even ignore professional advice from the Technocrats on other matters pertaining to the well being of our economy.The BOZ governor in his press address last week advised on the need to cut down on expenditure but barely a week after,President Lungu goes to create two (2) districts in N/W province in the midst of a serious budget deficit.Is this the IFINTU NI LUNGU PF cadres talk about or what???
PF has failed & a lot of us predicted so when MC came into power:
The strength of any monetary systems is fundamentally based on: A good transparent Legal Structure (Fake By elections), a relatively uncorrupted political scene (Too much corruption) & a prosperous resilient economy (Useless developments not tied to any tangible economic activity). Essentially when the kwacha keeps dropping in value, something has affected that foundation. Something has changed the perceived ability to get reimbursed for the note the value is worth when you first obtained the said note.