PS calls for solution to the mismatch between improved economic performance and high levels of inequality

FINANCE Permanent Secretary Pamela Kabamba has called for appropriate solutions to the mismatch existing between improved economic performance and high levels of inequality in Zambia.

Ms Kabamba noted that evidence had shown that there had been a weak link between growth and poverty in the country.

This has partly been attributed to the growth driven by mining, construction, wholesale and retail trade and communication which were mostly urban based.

She said this in Lusaka yesterday during the planning meeting for the consultative process of the Seventh National Development Plan (SNDP) which would run from 2017 to 2021.

The Permanent Secretary was hopeful that efforts would be made to draw lessons from the experiences of the implementation of the Fifth, Sixth and Revised Sixth National Development Plans to ensure good practices were reinforced.

“Key among the challenges that have emerged is the mismatch between improved economic performance and high levels of inequality in the country.

“These unintended outcomes require planners to be ingenuous and come up with collective solutions that will help redress the situation,” Ms Kabamba said.

The formulation of the SNDP is a critical point in that it was more of a decisive plan towards the attaining vision 2030.

This requires the Government to adopt measures and strategies that would effectively tackle high levels of poverty, unemployment, income inequality and poor living conditions that daunt the country.

Ms Kabamba noted that there was compelling need for the country to work towards promoting higher level strategies that would bring sectors together.

There was also need to direct resources and efforts to implementing the key national strategies in areas where comparative advantages exist towards the attainment a prosperous middle income nation by the year 2030.

“These national strategies should also foster regional development and help spur poverty reduction in very significant proportions,” she said.