Zambia’s relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been in the international media once again. According to reports, the latter was last week re-affirming its earlier position that it is unwilling to assist Zambia with a soft loan which would go hand in hand with the country undertaking an economic program to put her financial situation in order. The sticky point is that the Zambian government wants to maintain its high appetite for borrowing.
The IMF thinks the government must drastically scale down borrowing because the country is at risk of debt distress. So for now, the two sides can’t agree.
In September 2017, the IMF and the World Bank undertook a debt sustainability analysis on Zambia. The analysis report (“the report”) showed that Zambia’s debt has been rising excessively since 2011, when the PF took over Government. At end-2016, outstanding public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) external debt stood at nearly US$8 billion compared to US $1.9 billion at end 2011.
The report also revealed that publicly guaranteed debt (for ZESCO and ZAMTEL) stood at US$771 million, almost six times the amount at end-2012.
Beyond stating that the debt has grown bigger, the report also made the following other observations which add to the complications of the country’s indebtedness:
(a) The composition of public debt has shifted towards external non-concessional debt like the Eurobonds. At the time of the previous debt crisis during the 1990s, most of Zambia’s debt was owed to multilateral institutions like the IMF, the World Bank, the African Development Bank and others whose terms were largely concessional. Accordingly, the share of the concessional debt has reduced from about 60 percent in 2011 to 20.5 percent in 2016, while that of non-concessional (private banks/investors) has risen to almost 50 percent. This basically means that the cost of servicing the debt has increased. In short, Government is paying more interest per one US dollar of external debt it owes now than was the case before.
(b) The pace at which the PF Government has contracted debt has increased considerably. This means the repayment and servicing of these debt are heaped together over a similar range of time. The difficulty this brings about is similar to the case when parents must struggle to pay for several school children whose age differences are very small as opposed to those who are more widely dispersed in age.
According to the IMF estimates, Zambia’s total public debt (external and domestic) in 2017 stood at 55.8% of GDP. At an exchange rate of K9.3 per US Dollar, this translates to US $14.61 billion dollars compared to US $2.32 billion in 2011 when the PF came into power.
This means that within a space of 5 years, the PF Government has borrowed the equivalent of US $12.29 billion. It means that on average, the PF Government has been borrowing US $2.46 billion per annum. At this pace of borrowing, and if it continues, it means that Zambia will have a total debt of US $24.46 billion by 2021, when the PF’s term of office comes to an end. Indeed, if one takes into account all projects that the government has committed to undertake using borrowed funds, then the level of debt for Zambia will be around this figure.
This level of debt will imply an economic catastrophe for Zambia. This is why the IMF and local independent economists are calling on the government to scale down on borrowing. This is why the IMF are refusing to assist Zambia unless the government demonstrates credible commitment to slowing down on borrowing.
Let me present these facts from another perspective. In 2011 when the PF Government took office, Government used 17% of domestic revenues to service its debt. By 2014, this ratio had increased to 25% and by 2017, it increased further to 29%. If the government does not scale back on new loans, the percentage of revenue allocated to debt servicing could even reach 40 percent over the next six years.
Let me illustrate this point by using the 2018 Budget, which was approved in December last year. In the 2018 Budget, total domestic revenues are projected at K49.09 billion. Of this amount, the Government has allocated K14.23 billion for debt service; K22.92 billion for Salaries and wages for civil servants and K7.25 billion as grants to grant aided institutions such as ZRA, most of which is for paying salaries. In total therefore, K44.92 billion (out of K49 billion) of domestic revenues will go towards debt services, salaries for civil servants and grants to grant aided institutions.
This means that only K4.17 billion is available in the 2018 Budget for all the other expenditures including education, health, social protection as well as the day to day running of the Government and the much talked about infrastructure development, etc. Clearly, it means the Government will not be able to undertake these other government operations just outlined unless it continues to borrow. The country will be in a debt trap where, although heavily indebted, government will feel it imperative to continue to borrow to avoid a complete shut-down.
In my view, the Government has no option but to look to the outside world for a bailout, hand in hand with an economic program to restore order in the way Zambia should be borrowing. The beginning point of this bailout is obviously the IMF. The IMF bail-out is important not just for the money it will bring. It is also important because the money comes with several conditions, the most important of which in this instance is that the government refrains from rapidly pushing the country into deeper debt.
Not unexpected, some will see the insistence by the IMF on reduced borrowing as the usual perceived interference by IMF in national affairs. This cannot be sensible criticism because the IMF will merely be advising the government to behave sensibly as we all ought to be telling our government.
Equally important, the coming of the IMF will signal good or prudent economic management on the side of the Government. This will in turn induce some confidence in investors so that they bring into the country the much needed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
The absence of an IMF program and the reason given for that namely, poor financial management practices by the government raises serious concerns in the minds of investors. Who wants to take their investments to a country that is said to be on the brink of being bankrupt? Who wants to keep his or her money in such a country?
Zambia also needs to be mindful of the portfolio investors in the country. These are non-Zambian residents who buy our Treasury bills, bonds and shares. By so doing, they make cash available to our government. They are an important source of financing for our Treasury. When they continue to show interest in Zambia, it does not become an imperative for the government to pay off the Treasury bills and bonds that mature because what matures is paid for by same investors buying a new bond. There is little cash outlay demand on the government.
However, should the portfolio investors lose their trust in Zambia then holders of bills and bonds that mature will not be interested in keeping their money in Zambia. They will rather wish to repatriate their money out of Zambia by buying foreign currency. Not only will this bring about a cash crunch for the government but it will also cause the value of the Kwacha to fall against foreign currencies.
The announcement by the IMF that there is no program with Zambia unless the government scales down on borrowing has obviously caused doubts among investors on Zambia’s future economic prospects.
Two serious problems may emerge. Firstly, non-resident investors in our Treasury paper may decide to reduce their investments in Zambia and this will lead to the problem highlighted above of government cash crunch and instability in the exchange rate. This may cause a return of high inflation also.
The second problem is what has already been observed and reported in the media. Some foreigners who invested in the Eurobonds that Zambia issued have reacted to the IMF statement by selling off the bonds.
They are doing so because there is concern that in the absence of an IMF program economic conditions in Zambia may deteriorate and the country will fail to repay the Euro bonds. Any market where there are more sellers than buyers will result in the drop in the price for the items being sold; in this case the Treasury bonds. When the prices of the bonds drop, the return (yield) on the bonds will rise because less money is being invested for the same promised coupon rate.
Another way of seeing it is that when your ability to repay debt is in question, lenders will only accept to assist you if they charge higher interest rates to compensate for the risk of default.
The rise in the yield of Zambian bonds is important for 2022 when the first batch of Euro bonds matures and is due for re-payment. It is highly unlikely that the government will have the money to re-pay the bonds. So the likely option then in 2022 is to issue fresh bonds and use the proceeds to pay off the holders of the original bonds. In other words if A owes B then A can approach C to borrow money to pay A. This is what they term rolling over the debt.
But rolling a debt over is not automatic. In order for A to approach C for a loan in order to pay B, C must equally be satisfied that there is a very good chance of being repaid.
If there is doubt C will refuse to lend or will lend only at very exorbitant interest rate. In other words, it is important for the government to create conditions now that will make it possible for it to be able to roll over the Eurobonds maturing in 2022. By remaining adamant about reckless borrowing in the face of the deteriorating financial position of Zambia, the PF government is risking the economic future of our country in a very profound way.
As UPND, our advice to the PF Government is that it should not tread on dangerous grounds for the sake of political expedience. The government should henceforth stop reckless borrowing as if there is no tomorrow.
To the Zambian people especially the informed ones, this debt challenge is no longer a PF Government problem. It’s a Zambian problem and needs a Zambian solution. Everyone must step in and stop the government, which has already caused enough damage, from leading us in the ditch.
Hon Situmbeko Musokotwane
UPND CHAIRMAN-ECONOMIC AND FINANCE
Excellent article, seriously it articulates what is the situation is all about regarding reckless borrowing The problem is that majority Zambians do not realize how this level of borrowing will impact the future of our children. As advised in his last line, we should find a way of stopping this.
Treason
Now UPND want it through the back door.
Seriously we must do something about the UPND. De-register this cult now!
Usually I avoid reading such stuff of %, but I kept on. This is scary, only Sinkamba formula may solve these debts.
If Maggy reads this today, she will be so stressed this weekend, may end up taking sleeping pills instead of usual Amarula
This is very scary and should get everyone worried…Edgar’s solution to such a complex problem is appointing Margaret Mwanakatwe as Finance Minister.
Frankly speaking, LT, this should have been the headline news. But because it’s a PF mouth piece, LT won’t do it. Zambia’s future is at risk. We need technocrats to make sure our country is salvaged from these thieves. There’s no way PF can understand the complexity and enormity of our country’s dire economic state for us to sit down and expect a better result. Wake up zambian! Aside with tribalism and regionalism, this is our country.
An excellent article was well written though we should all start thinking about how we will recover from this debt. Zambia is our home and we have to strategize to have proper leadership.
The article is for the informed ones, those unable to grasp financial complex management do not make misleading comments that goats and sheep are the same since its all meat for consumption.
Musokotwane was once Minister of Finance. What did he do to grow the economy or build infrastructure? ZERO!!
Rather, he was busy giving concessions to foreigners and thus little revenue today.
The PF have constructed the most expensive road to his village but which he and his fellow regionalists will never appreciate. What PF is doing is not for political expediency but for growing the economy.
Prices of metals are going up. IMF AND WORLD BANK ARE DOOM SAYERS. THE USA OWES TRILLIONS!!!
The only problem I have with analysis by Hon is how linear & 1 sided it is. This is not how an objective economic analysis works. Sovereign borrowing is not just a process as he describes but has an objective. How does it factor into national plan like 7NDP & what tangible results can you see. E.g. if investment is done in toll road what impact does that have on economy? What Hon is not stating is impact this borrowing has had on real economy since 2011. Statistics show that Zambia’s GDP is actually highest ever between 2011 & 2017. May be there is positive impact in borrowing especially that most of it has gone into infrastructure. And then borrowing @ 55% of GDP is really not a crisis but also not that good especially if economy can be affected by global headwinds. So be objective. God…
Contd. God Bless Zambia
Yaba … Oh yaba!!! So, Doc thinks the initial posting did not carry any water and now has to regurgitate the same once more. For starters, some of us are keen to read reports and have a financial perspective of its implications.
Having said that, I personally read that report and it actually is flawed in several ways. Now before, I start itemizing all the ways in which that report is flawed let me be the first to admit that there is credibility to some of its ascensions despite it’s overall flaws.
Furtherstill, there is a funny notion from some quarters that because it was written by the IMF/World Bank it is the only gospel truth there is out there and therefore has to be believed 100% and should be 100% perfect. Not here, as American trained expert we look beyond that and analyse…
Continued …
Not here, as an American trained expert we look beyond that and analyse facts not hyperbolies. Remember the days of British propaganda. BBC was anti-UNIP all because they wanted our assets that UNIP nationalized post 1973. Nothing was ever right in Zambia in the eyes of the British!!! Same thing here, IMF/World Bank want back in.
1. The September 2017 report was written with a linear perspective and thus IMF/World Bank’s economists failed to relate that to the Zambian Enterprise situation. By assuming that all debt stock would be contracted at the same rate until 2021, the same way, the report failed to factor in the fact that there are several dynamics that can change in over a thousand days before the next election. That myopic perspective limits these economists…
Continued …
That myopic perspective limits these economists IMF/World Bank’s understanding of the veracity, buoyancy and ability to adapt in order to thrive. It’s a dooms day report not worth the paper it was printed on. The smart people of the Zambian Enterprise deserve better from you Doc!!
2. Following one above, economic relativism renders that report flawed on second notion. Truth relativism is the doctrine that there are no absolute truths, i.e., that truth is always relative to some particular frame of reference, in this case such as what platform is being used to contract and/or restructure the said debt. Already we know that under Felix, we are stated shifting from foreign based borrowing such as Eurobonds to domestic emphasis such as treasury bills for instance, and…
Continued …
Already we know that under Felix, we are stated shifting from foreign based borrowing such as Eurobonds to domestic emphasis such as treasury bills for instance, and here recently to changing how Chinese debt is structure, not through contractors but actual banks, etc. The IMF/World Bank report failed to recognize this very important and crucial matter of fiscal significance.
3. It is not true that by moving from IMF/World Bank as major sources of financing, a government would all of a sudden increase the cost of borrowing. This is a caveat usually used by these institutions in order to keep themselves relevant as sources of cheaper capital. Anybody can negotiate better terms with any creditor and if for some reason the current holders of the bonds don’t want to work…
Continued …
Anybody can negotiate better terms with any creditor and if for some reason the current holders of the bonds don’t want to work with you there are several ways to find alternatives including but not limited to restructuring which GRZ is still keeping as an option under the sleeves.
4. Look, Bo Doc Bo Musokotwane … I understand where you are coming from. But you article does not hold the right water here. If you want to be more meaningful to the process, find other ways to communicate the Margaret. She is holding the same position you held before, visit her have lunch and talk about what you think your concerns are and she is a very smart woman. If you are as patriotic as you want the rest of us to believe, please find time to visit the President and talk things…
Continued …
If you are as patriotic as you want the rest of us to believe, please find time to visit the President and talk things over. ECL already said he’s ready to work with anybody from the opposition with constructive ideas, call him and have an audience with him.
You wasted your space here and that’s just my opinion but if the objective is not to contribute favorably to this economy but just to raise your stock in UPND, that too I understand. I am sure you want to feel more relevant as UPND CHAIRMAN-ECONOMIC AND FINANCE.
And if politics is your underlying premise … Just remember, you actually belong to losing party and you are wasting your time because UPND is not forming any government any time soon.
God speed!!!!
BR Mumba do you invest in cryptocurrencies?
@ Br Mumba! Dr Musokotwane has been there and done that, and he is good at it, not your shallow knowledge from reading books about the economy.
Do not compare “amapuli” with Dr Musokotwane
Other than typing here, what have you done for Zambia that gives you authority to be challenging Dr Musokotwane?
@Mafi fimo fimo … do you know who I am???? Your Doc’s diatribe here is based on flawed analyses and the best you can do is insult the smarts of the smart people of the Zambian Enterprise???
Who do you think you are??? Get the facts straight before you start spewing your cretin incessant venom here. For one thing my passing grades as an accountant are more superior to the best economists this world would ever produce.
For another my current practice right now requires me to analyze all angles using all logical operators while understanding motive. So, unlike you, I live this stuff day in day out. Your Doc is nothing but a “has been”.
An academician turned politician whose theoretical analysis leaves much to be desired. He was part of the MMD that destroyed everything UNIP…
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He was part of the MMD that destroyed everything UNIP labored to build including an educational system that was second to none on the continent of Africa.
It seems to me you have a small brain incapable of thinking on your own and wants to believe everything IMF or your Doc here puts forward as gospel. Get into more books and grow your dimwit brain for crying out loud!!!
Sha …
Go to Zambia and become minister of finance (& don’t borrow recklessly from the Chinese) and then come back to Lusaka times be a practical champion. You are now working under someone, so it’s easy for you to think you know better because of those text books you have read.
Am a well trained accountant with several years at GRZ and private sector. Unlike most of these cadres who think you are an actual genius here, am well able to make my own economic analysis and discernment of the facts.
If you are hoping to get any recognition from Pf and get yourself an appointment then good luck, Lungu’s Pf hates the educated and more so those with integrity.
I think it’s fair to say BR Mumba Sr analysis should have been the article on LT than Musokotwane’s skewed political propaganda that is meant to destroy than to build. Insightful and wholesome, big brother.
@Zambian Citizen … Sancho saana mukwai.
@Mafi fimo fimo … assumption is the lowest level of knowledge. True accountants never assume things; there’s nothing in your blogs here that smells anything close to being one.
All professions have their own dialects and/or dictions; you can easily tell by their lingual and jargon. Real accountants are trained to identify that, do you know why? Because of all professions, accountants work across all fields as each and every vocation needs them.
Back to your second point, there you go again! I run my own companies with employees on three continents. Why would I want a demotion to become MoF or even President of the smart people of the Zambian Enterprise???
Hell No … besides, I already run this country on remote access and you don’t…
Thank you honourable once again for speaking out for the voiceless and brainless!
What has happened to Zambia is some kind of Shipwreck! Zambia is like a Titanic that is about to hit an iceberg of serious debt, except this one is a ticking time bomb! When the blind and visionless lead fellow blind and visionless followers, both will fall into a ditch! In soccer, we substitute players. Why don’t we recall Chagwa? We are troubling him by keeping him there. He has no clue about the lies his tuma advisors are feeding him on. Surely, if we act decisively now, we can save the situation from deteriorating further. Zambia is finished under Chagwa! Everything has fallen! Shame!
The upnd media war on PF in full swing. Erode the confidence the population has in PF, then they will rise and remove PF from power. That way, upnd will be ushered into power under the prefix, “we will fix the economy PF destroyed.” A losing strategy at the most. Situmbeko was Finance minister, why didn’t he work to reduce the civil servants’ wage bill???? With all the renowned losers firmly in upnd, joined others like Situmbeko, THIS WILL FAIL….
TRIED AND FAILED MINISTER…
simply tired of the same old stories and media propaganda .When you listen to the UPND stories , it creates an impression that Zambia is on fire(Hell) and when you listen to the stories from PF , it also creates an impression that Zambia is in Paradise and everything is nothing but a bed of roses .
Both are useless parties full of lies and deception .when you take any of these guys seriously you end up being depressed .Both have one thing on their minds.To be in statehouse and control our resources and enrich themselves .This has nothing to do with the poor people of Zambia and our future. LET YOUR KINGDOM COME SAID JESUS .He never said upnd or PF NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO
Ba Southner … Hallelujah!!! In the meantime, as we await for His Kingdom to come we LET HIS WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!!!
MARANATHA, Lord Jesus and Heaven help us all …
UPND Propaganda war against the PF is at full swing.
Please PF wake up!
The chaps at Media are too small to counter this alone.
Ministers are too quite why?
Please wake up!
Situmbeko Musokotwane was scared of Mutati and now that he has been transferred, he has taken out his skeletons from the closet.
The PF government will come out with silly excuses to steal more money and bury their heads in the sand like their drunken president who has an enormous appetite for borrowing without a care for the ability to service the debt. He has the cheek to say “he will leave the coffers empty, but there will be development!”. What an irresponsible thing to say coming out of a lawyer who should have basic appreciation of economics and appreciate the negative effects of being indebted. Surely, this blind clown ought to be stopped for the good of posterity. Our children will question if normal people lived in the country to allow this insensitive drunken man to contract such debilitating debt.
Correction Dr. and I expect a thank you for this:
In other words if A owes B then A can approach C to borrow money to pay A. This is what they term rolling over the debt.
But rolling a debt over is not automatic. In order for A to approach C for a loan in order to pay B, C must equally be satisfied that there is a very good chance of being repaid.
It should read “In other words if A owes B then A can approach C to borrow money to pay B”. This is what they term rolling over the debt.
Good article.
Its like borrowing money from one bank, fail to pay the loan. Borrow from another bank to the failed loan. And continue to do so from bank to bank until all the banks say “saabwenza Nkongole uyu”
And the world still goes around. …
Great article….I do honestly think we need to share this information to every Zambian and explain what this is all about. We are in a CRISIS and very soon we will have a government shut-down. The other question we need to ask is: How has all the borrowed money been used? Where did it go?
Certainly he/she who has no money cant continue borrowing, unless something is wrong with your head. This is not a question of UPND or anything, its the future of the country. This future is at stake. Clearly, we are in trouble. As Zambians, we need to speak out and say no to this. Silence does not pay
If UPND is serious about the debt, they should talk to HH to bring back the money and invest in Zambian economy and PF would stop borrowing. As long as HH millions are in offshore accounts, zambia would continue borrowing
@DJ7 … I think you are giving HH too much credit for his offshore investments. HH is a diminishing asset and/or return, a practical term economists like Situmbeko here can understand well.
The guy has less than $75,000,000 in liquidity right now down from $300,000,000 when he was “Accomplice In Chief” during privatization with the then “Thief In Chief” the famous trickster FTJ.
At best his liquidity can only move our economy at 0.003 of the entire national real GDP. Unlike in other countries where the rich can have an impact on their economy, Zambia’s 7th richest guy HH can’t even pay for salaries for the entire civil service for just one month.
He would be completely wiped out the next month and be broke. The problem in Zambia is that we have never experienced real wealth at a…
Continued …
The problem in Zambia is that we have never experienced real wealth at a grand scale and those considered rich amongst us are actually average Joes elsewhere.
If you listen to him and GBM very closely, you can actually sense that one reason they both would like to get into government so bad is to lay their dirty hands on GRZ contracts. Both of them gained their initial working capital after getting contracted through GRZ.
HH under Grant Thornton as Consulting Group for privatization and GBM through haulage contracts from his transportation and milling companies. By the way GBM as the 10th richest man in Zambia is only worth $50,000,000.
Compare that to the 10th richest man in the United States and you will understand what I am talking about.
It’s laughable how the UPND want so much to believe we are in a crisis.
The fact is that we are not.
Even our learned bro Situmbeko has his judgment all crowded up.
Let us continue to borrow.We are not borrowing for consumption after all.
We are already putting in place measures to fine tune our borrowing.
Give the govt a chance to push its projects.
If they fail,the Zambian people will decide who they trust to take us forward.
Unfortunately,its not going to be UPND.
Humpty DUmpty empty tribal political party! Who cares what tribalists say?
Judgement of Stoolmbeko is clouded in the crowd of mediocrity and blood lineage! The stuff is in the blood!
Every UPND cadre has something negative to say but what they forget is that Zambians are not stoolpid like them! They know UPND better and what its opposition is based on! Hate and tribes!!
Zambians made a big mistake to entrust a complex economy to these kantemba PF party aparatchiks who’ve run our economy aground.High debt and slow growth are their bitter fruits.
So frustrating to read this kind of news, everyone knows Zambia is rich in natural resources and billions come out of the country every year, yet Zambia is run on loans and progress held back by debts. We have the power to negotiate deals that benefit Zambian citizens because we have the resources but these clowns are so dumb and so corrupt that they will accept any deals as long as they can fill their coffers. Can’t wait til these dinosaurs are no longer in government and we have some educated, caring and young people in government coz clearly these clowns are still suffering from colonial rule and feel they can’t enforce their will in negotiating with the west.
The problem with these people or let me say the opposition is that, they are good in Critics just because one wants to see their party of choice in power so they will do whatever it takes to insult n criticise.Lets not just criticise lets offer solutions when we see things going wrong lets point out those issues n counter offer solutions.We dont have to wait untill we are in government for us to assist in development.Zambia is big than us all n if we have to develop it takes input from us all whether in government,opposition or just a citizen believe me if this mentality continues whosever will come to power will always face stronge negative opposition just because we have so much developed love for our parties than for our country.The key is whether we r in Government or opposition we…
THIS IS THE MAN WE ENTRUSTED WITH MANAGEMENT OF OUR ECONOMY AT ONE TIME… NO WONDER WE ARE WHERE WE ARE TODAY.. THE LAZY OLD ECONOMIST LACKS DEPTH.. AND IS INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING DYNAMICS OF MODERN ECONOMICS.. PERHAPS HIS BRAIN CELLS ARE SHRINKING.
James grew up as a cattle rancher while Nsama grew up by collecting ifishimu and locusts from the forest. One day the two met and indulged into a business conversation. James explained how good and profitable his business of cattle ranching was and Nsama also did the same regarding his business. The two grew up and had children. When Nsama’ s children saw how successful James and his family were, they started accusing him of being a thief and a satanist. When James’ s children heard the accusations that were being leveled against their father, they summoned Nsama’ s children and asked them how much each cattle cost in relation with the cost of one icishimu or one nconkonono. They were dumbfounded.
The take it or leave it syndrome can not be applied here. What we would like to hear is the other side of the same message from our PF counterparts. The Chair Person for Economics should come on board and equally tell the Zambian what their formula is and how they gonna apply it and remain safe still. The good thing about the above write up is that it contains NO insults at all. Now this is what I call Maturity.
Irrespective of our political divide and affiliation, I am sure we all agree that this is a great article particularly if you view issues with an objective lens. I am sure that the Government is faced with the problem of juggling between fulfilling its promises to the electorates as well as economic development, to some extent the same problem but the flipside of the other. If the Government fails to control debt contraction and we get in a cash crunch, what will be the implication or impact on my Auntie selling Groceries in Mutendere Market? In her case, she will not make sales because there’s no cash in circulation thus she will not be able to send her six children and dependents to school worse even provide food or buy medicines when she is given a prescription at the local hospital…
This IMF thing!!! I doubt if they are interested in our welbeing other than theirs. A good chunk of copper and cobalt comes from Zambia and DRC. Why don’t we talk to DRC and start pulling the strings? If Zambia and DRC stopped exporting copper for just a month, I believe this world would turn upside down! It is a question of how we can do it. We need to adopt the Trump strategy! Zambia First! DRC First!
As long as an article is labelled upndeez, you must read it with a large pinch of salt. Their articles always have a upndeez agenda so they lose meaning and sense. Will not waste my energy reading your article Dr Musokotwane, as long as your agenda is the perpertual loser h.h. Please explain how h.h will fix Zambia, economy corruption by chosing GBM as running mate, and if he had won the election, vice president of Zambia!!
Despite borrowing we haven’t done much to most sensitive sectors of the economy like mining, energy, healthy, agriculture and tourism there is still some rifts. Empowering youth entrepreneurs to contribute to the growth of the economy is fundamental and can reduce excessive borrowing. The importance of data in today’s age must never be tempered with in order to satisfy selfish interests it must be stopped forthwith and also several laws and regulations are not followed due to greed-based consumption motives by the people in the driving seats. Why can’t you adopt the appropriate technology needed to generate funds to supplement infrastructure projects? After years of mediocre performance you expect to accelerate economic growth through borrowing and maintain a positive momentum. Where on…
Where on earth unless a tyranny state? Many people in Zambia are facing stagnant wages, limited job opportunities, and dislocations caused by technological change and these are there for you to see. Get the economic fundamentals right; tackle more decisively the issue of excessive inequality, corruption, gender imbalance, budget inefficiencies; and address the major concerns of our young people to help ensure bright prospects for them and for future generations. This will drastically improve people’s lives and reduce poverty levels to manageable magnitudes. Managing a smooth normalization of monetary policy is critical; so are fiscal strategies that reduce high debt without hurting growth and confidence. We must also guard against the build-up of financial vulnerabilities. We have ample…
We have ample resources for priority needs or debt reduction that can boost most sectors for economic growth gains. Who can cheat us on this one? It’s time we Zambians should work together and eradicate systemic corruption. It undermines people’s trust in government and reduces growth potential. We can only be successful in addressing economic challenges if we work together on nonpartisan lines. Dr Situmbeko can’t you offer credible solutions to the PF regime unlike attacking them
@Devil Devil One Zero … that’s what I call objectivity and that’s how we run this country on remote access.
Let’s run this country together; you and me … let’s create policy statements right here that can change the country for the better.
These doomsday clowns have nothing to offer; they don’t even understand what it means to be in the opposition, it’s no wonder someone on LT once suggested that UPND is a failed experience, we should get rid of it …
I see Laura Miti has changed her tone here recently and wants to now help me run this country. Her recent metamorphosis is a welcome gesture … Let’s roll!
Zambia Is Greater Than Any Single One Of Us ~ B R Mumba, Sr.