The World Bank has re-classified Zambia to low-income status from lower middle income, for the 2023 financial year because of the deterioration of Gross National Income per capita estimates recorded in 2021.
However, Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has said that the Government is working to reverse the situation.
Dr Musokotwane said that Government has embarked on an economic repair, stabilisation and transformation path that will ensure the country swiftly regains lower-middle-income status at the next assessment or in the medium term.
Dr. Musokotwane said that the New Dawn Government upon assuming office in August 2021, committed to actualising the Vision of the Zambian people and has focused on stabilizing the economy.
Dr. Musokotwane said so far, the Government has managed to bring down the inflation rate, stabilised the exchange rate and controlled its domestic borrowing.
This is contained in a statement issued to the media by the Ministry of Finance and National Planning.
In 2011, the World Bank reclassified Zambia as a middle-income country,along with Ghana saying that the upward adjustment in Zambia’s income growth was a result of foreign aid-driven interventions and surging prices of copper in the last few decades.
Low-income countries are those with the average gross national income (GNIs) of less than US$1, 005 per person annually. Lower-middle-income countries have per capita GNIs of between US$1,006 per year and upper-middle-income countries have per capita GNIs between US$3, 976 and US$12, 275.
At the time, in 2011, the World Bank stated that that the price of copper (Zambia’s major export) was depressed in the 80s and saw its price rise in the middle of the last decade as China and India’s economies grew and demand for copper soared.
The middle-income countries now account for most of the world’s population living in absolute poverty and they need aid allocation models which will take account of poor people and deprivation beyond income.
IN 2011, there were only 35 low-income countries remaining out of the countries being assessed by the world.
$1000 annual income is too much for me. According to the same world bank, I can survive on $1 per day.
Jokes aside, I think this report was sampled in the last one year. Hence it’s not of the Upnd making. This is a net effect of the previous government economy mismanagement
I’m seeing some green shouts under the upnd
Upnd busy undoing all the good work we in pf did. More evidence that things are worse under upnd than they were. We warned you but you didn’t listen. Ati we want change. Do you know that change can also be bad change. F00Is
Kaizar, do you understand how this is arrived at? for your to be downgraded you must have been on a downward trend for a given period which is usually average of 5 years plus or minus. So if you have been in any class where they teach economics, you would have not commented. PF is the architect for this
Someone please explain what good work PF did
and dont mentions roads, flyovers airports to accommodate 3 million visitors a year ??
All on borrowed Chinese money which has to be paid back by future Governments
The only thing upnd and Government are trying to undo is the corruption you allowed
10 years of Pay Forward (PF) only them have upgraded their status and bank balances …today they have mansions worthy of being shown on MTV Cribs some have wild animals in their backyards, some have helicopters …really laughable
In simple terms no more reckless borrowing but it also applies pressure on doing business in zed but trying to access finance abroad…very expensive no one will touch you… the plus side is that you can now access finance from concessional windows. In short from a poor mans lending window.
Upnd hyenas are in denial yet they are in power.
Life is good. I have no worries now that am out of government. I am at Chicagos tonight mingling with some of your wives whilst the economy bites you
I personally think that they were lenient on this downgrade, it should have been not low income, but poor/zero income. We are all Zambians here and you do know what am talking about, esp in the Last 10 years , i even doubt there was income at all. esp to the Nurses/Doctors/Teachers etc, worse of all, council workers-this is the area where “poor/zero income applies”.
You all saw Doctors toy toying every week into Statehouse since UPND came, as they could not do that during Lungu reign for fear of being teargassed or arrested. Those Doctors clearly said they had not been paid their salaries for more than 5 years. Let alone the teachers and retirees. And these are the people which the World Bank report puts into consideration when doing the assessment to be used on grading.