Thursday, March 28, 2024

Kitwe business boom cheers chamber of commerce

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The removal of streets vendors in Central business area in Kitwe has seen free movement of people and free packing space for vehicles.

Kitwe Chamber of Commerce President Nathan Nyirenda has described the year 2017 as positive in terms of business.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Kitwe yesterday, Mr Nyirenda said there has been an increase in business volumes between the Chamber of Commerce members and the mining companies due to the good Government policies that created a favourable environment for the growth of most businesses.

Mr Nyirenda said the good government fiscal policies were also coupled with the significant improvement in the price of Copper which led to a rise in the mines production thereby raising demand for mining materials from suppliers.

He however noted that the business community was choked by the high bank interest rates which limited the members’ capacity to borrow for expansion of their businesses.

And Mr Nyirenda appealed on government to find means of compelling banks to adjust their interest rates to ensure that they are in tandem with the policy rate.

He observed that banks were borrowing from the bank of Zambia at about 9 per cent interest rate but were lending out at over 27 per cent which he said was unfair.

He said businesses run on borrowed money and if they are not able to borrow, they cannot grow.

He noted that high interest rates slow down the economy as businesses cannot borrow and their growth is hindered.

The Kitwe Chamber of Commerce president also expressed happiness with the stability in the exchange rate which he said was good in terms of business operations and forecasting.

And Mr Nyirenda described the proliferation of shopping malls in the country as a demonstration of the good economic environment

He however said that there was need to promote the growth of manufacturing industries as this will increase the number of jobs created in the country.

He was optimistic that business will be more favourable in the New Year as government puts into effect fiscal policies that are in the 2018 national budget.

12 COMMENTS

  1. Nice pattern on the road/parking lot Dalmatian 101 or leopard stlye road paving the first of its kind in the world i hope its not potholes pantu musebanya.

    • @Bozo.Those are potholes along Kitwe’s Matuka avenue. Of late I can’t even take my Mercedes Benz there because the parking sensors start making noise interpreting the potholes as obstacles because theyrevery big, deep and scattered all over that area especially the other stretch where you find PEP stores and the main Post Office. This is what the government has done to the CBD of the birth place of PF. It’s been long since I went there but I was told that it was being patched. It’s laughable because that’s the centre of Kitwe town it’s supposed to be the best part of Kitwe. The surprising part is that if you’re driving, you have to pay a K2.00 to access that area. No one ever accounts for the money they collect from there and the they’re work even on Sundays collecting money.

    • Yangu tata ehe thats a CBD of a city of 800 thousand people and global corporations.
      So exactly were was those sweat smelling and yellow teethed carders sontaling and dununaling kanshi.
      My home town i dont recall any incidents of bombings in kitwe for the place to reach such deplorable levels

    • Inonge Wina
      I m ever wondering the same regarding the K2.00 they collect every day. The current mayor seems clever enough but his efforts so far was to patch up the place which hasnt lasted anyway. Its a small area that makes money everyday, why not resurface the whole perimeter once and for all???
      The business boom his talking about is just in the few owners of those businesses. Majority are still unemployed. The few that gets employed go months without pay on casual terms. Simply put, your so called boom has not trickled down to the residents of Kitwe and your fellow Zambian contractors are the worst in looking after employees.

  2. Nice observation on bank borrowing interest rates but I’m yet to be convinced ( with measurable indicators) regarding the alleged economic boom. Potholes on all major roads speak for themselves

    • Do you understand basic finance????

      Bank interest rate = prime rate (BOZ) + Business Expense + Client risk

      prime rate = 9%
      business expense = 8% (due to high cost of doing business in Zambia, go try it you will see)
      Client business risk (credit risk) = 10% (8 out of 10 companies in Zambia do not have liquidity)

      Interest rate = 28%

      very simple : Now let me give your the solution, reduce the cost of doing business to 1.5 – 3% and you will also reduce client credit risk. How can you reduce it…??? telecommunication, transport, electricity (so when your PF was increasing electricity i guess none of them had brains to think of this)

    • TS: is credit risk calculated on current liquidity of a company or the ability of that company to pay back the credit bases on the business profile? I have a problem with your using liquidity as a basis for calculating borrower risk. I have borrowed money in the neighbour country just by using my pay slip. I bought a car and house at very low rates. If they had used my liquidity status, I could not not have been given the funds. We just have wicked and crooked banks in this country. Worse the so called micro finance institutions they do not help grow the small businesses. On the other we have crooked business people who get overwhelmed with a few kwachas and rush to watch formula one races instead of completing their projects. I wished we could all move in one direction and develop this…

  3. Kitwe is very filthy, disorganised and ugly. Expensive too. I wont even talk of the horrible roads and the primitive jerabos. Aside from perhaps Mukuba mall, there is no place in Kitwe that is family-friendly. The football venue are strictly for the uncouth, loud, lot. Where do you even go for jogging in Kitwe? Nowhere!

    • Sir Kala.
      you’re right. Last weekend, A friend of mine wanted to go out and chill with his wife in Kitwe. We looked for a good place and found every nice social place filled with filthy primitive Jerabos and noise making drunks. It’s a sad state. I also drink alcohol but civilized enough to not disturb others while I am having a good time.

  4. Interest rates are high because of the inability or lack of will of the borrower to,repay.
    Many zambians borrow, say 2000kwacha pay back 1500 and think that is enough then the fone is switched off or sorry cant pay this month i have challenges. Tells you all this while drinking jameson and eating t bone , with your money

  5. When will the Mayor push the developers who broken down the previous Astra cinema building..The place is an eyesore in CBD.If they have failed to rebuild the area give it to other serious developers.

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