Friday, March 29, 2024

It’s very lame and lazy to blame Zambia’s economic problems on Ukraine war-Simumba

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Economist Trevor Simumba has charged that Zambia’s economic problems should not be blamed on the ongoing Ukraine war.

Presidential Spokesperson Anthony Bwalya has over the last few days been announcing that Zambia’s economic woes will worsen due to the effects of the Ukraine war on global oil and fertiliser supply.

But Mr Simumba said it is very lame and lazy for the Zambian government to claim the economic problems are as a result of the Ukraine war.

He stated that Zambia’s current economic malaise is a result of past ineptitude of the PF and the current Government’s total fear of implementing decisive policy reforms.

Mr. Simumba accused the UPND government of playing the blame game.

“We even have the Central Bank blaming the transition for dollar shortages on the market. Honestly seven months down the road we cannot see any real policy decisions on KCM/Mopani, dismantling of local debt arrears, local content, industrial policy etc,” he said.

“What recovery efforts are those that are affected by the War in Ukraine?”

He added, “Subsidies have been removed according to Govt. Oil and fertiliser are not examples of reforms being affected. Those are factors of production. More importantly, we can buy fertiliser from other sources.”

He observes that Zambia already pays 50% above world market prices for fertiliser.

“The war has no impact on Zambia’s debt negotiations.”

18 COMMENTS

  1. I can imagine if PF was in government at this point in time how HH would stand in front of a white board showing graphs on how he would ensure the war in Ukraine did not affect the fuel prices in Zambia. I can also hear die hard supporters accusing Lungu of failing to put contingencies in place for such eventualities. Experts from the Upnd would be on social media explaining how the governmet should have sourced money to cushion the impact.

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  2. He said it will worsen not what you are saying. We all know the effect of disrupting oil and grain supply. This will have an impact on the world economy. Yes PF got us this far

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  3. Yes, It is very lame HH should look at what he used to outline over the 20 years of his campaign. There was no Ukraine mentioned anywhere. He talked about cutting out middlemen. If your are buying a commodities you do not determine the price. He thought Zambia is southern province where he can displace people from their land. By 2026 people will know who they voted for.

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  4. The UPND economy will roar, the blame games are just a means of buying time and that is called politics. The Achilles heal for UPND is the information ministry.

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  5. Ukrain and Russia export millions of tones of wheat and fertiliser and russian oil products to African countries including zambias trading partners………

    So , Mr simumba , as an economist………

    You don’t think this will have a knockon effect on zambias economy ???

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  6. The New Doom party have taken Zambians for granted, they think we are foolish and can buy their stories. You saw these problems a long time ago when you were in opposition and your mantra was “we will fix them”, evening giving timelines. How much is the dollar? How much is fuel? how much is a bag of mealie meal? How big is your cabinet? Has caderism in markets vanished?

    All we still getting are pronouncements with no real action.

    Thanks Trevor for pointing out this, was thinking the same whenever my namesake opened his mouth.

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  7. #5 Spaka… let’s just think for the moment…war starts in Ukraine and oil prices climb up, Zambia quickly ups the pump price. Yesterday the oil prices went down and I would expect the same speed to reduce our pump prices as we did with increase. Besides we don’t even get oil from Europe. If only your party had said the truth during campaigns, I would feel for them for difficulties they are going through. But you made sound so simple.

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  8. Well said Deja Vu…………..I wont even write much because you have already said it all…………………………

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  9. I would rather have a middle man and pay less for petrol than having no middle man and pay huge price at the pump. By 2026 l can see riots

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  10. Anthony Bwalya did not lie. Russia is the largest supplier of fertilizer. A simple google search will confirm what Bwalya alluded to. Fertilizer prices per tonne have gone up by an extra $300 plus . It is surprising that a so called Economist does not know what is happening on the global market. Farmers and major farming nations from Brazil to Australia are all expressing concern. All major international news channels have been carrying stories about food shortages and food inflation as a result of this crisis. This is not the time to bury our heads in the sand. Let us see the world for what it is rather politicizing factual information. An Economist who ignores the economic environment is never a good economist.

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  11. #7  Deja Vu March
    30, 2022 At 9:12 

    Oil prices are changing every week , if not every few days with the current volatile situations in the middle east and Russia………….

    While prices per barrel fluctuate widely, accociated prices for support services like transportation , insurance and administration only rise……………

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  12. Zambia should double its efforts and work hard. In the midst of the same Ukraine war, others are surviving. We must do the same until it will be well. War is not for ever as it will soon be over. Governance is difficult. Let’s give UPND a chance. They have just been in Government a few months only.

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  13. If anything Russia has even reduced the price of oil if you buy direct from them without using usd just to spite the west. Saudi and UAE to follow . This is when you can get cheap oil because our allegiance is to nobody.

  14. #13 Spaka…Rwanda have just reduced the fuel pump price and they too are land locked…… what was that new phrase Bally coined?

  15. Zambia’s economic problems started right after PF came to power and it’s been a downhill slide since 2011.

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  16. UPND has just run out of any plans to govern. And tge more reason they’ll fail lamentably is because they’re always looking for the next person to blame. It’s either PF or Covid-19, now madness has taken them to blaming Ukraine invasion.

    For them leadership is all about taking selfies???

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