THE COOPERATING PARTNERS GROUP has commended the Zambian government for maintaining an open-door engagement policy in the process of driving the country’s economy towards stabilisation and growth.

The Cooperating Partners Group made this observation during a mid-year networking meeting with the Ministry of Finance at the Ministry’s Headquarters in Lusaka today, and added that, “it was not happening before, well done.”

Led by US AMBASSADOR TO ZAMBIA DAVID SCHULTZ, who is also the new Chair for the “COOPERATING PARTNERS GROUP TROIKA”, they also took note of a brief by the Minister of Finance FELIX MUTATI on the essential but non-intrusive powers on human rights given to the Zambia Police Service in the security enhancement regulations derived from the provisions of Article 31 of the Republican Constitution of Zambia.

The Cooperating Partners collectively called for sustained affirmative sensitization on Article 31 by the Government, further stating that, although its activation had caused some ripples, “we are doing our part to ensure that our citizens [foreign nationals] working in this country, and the authorities and investors in our capitals back home, are correctly briefed on the developments related to the current security enhancement measures in Zambia.”

The partners took the opportunity to call on the Zambian Government to clearly spell out the implementation framework for the situational analysis of State-Owned-Enterprises, adding that, “clear policy implementation has an influence on investment decisions by the international community.”

The State-Owned-Enterprises on the 2017 review schedule are Zesco, Zamtel, Zambia National Building Society [ZNBS], Indeni, TAZAMA Pipeline, Zambia Railways, and Zambia State Insurance Corporation [ZSIC].

“It is for this reason that your commendable work on publishing monthly economic indicators should continue and be supplemented by the launch of the 2017 Mid-Year Economic Review,” they said, adding that, “on our part, we undertake to continue our periodical performance reviews of the various grants and assistance programmes in Zambia.”

Members of the Cooperating Partners Group who attended the meeting included, United States, France, Italy, China, Ireland, Sweden, Britain [DFID], Japan, Finland, Germany, United Nations [UNDP], World Bank, International Monetary Fund, European Union, African Development Bank, and International Labour Organisation.

And Mr. MUTATI briefed the gathering of representatives of the international community that most economic fundamentals had performed well during the first half of 2017 because of the hard work of the people of Zambia, the re-energization of the local private sector, and the unwavering support of the Cooperating Partners; in-tandem with the International Investor and Business Community.

The Minister briefed the Cooperating Partners Group that the poor performance of non-tax-revenue collections has had a significant impact, “resulting in a revenue deficit in the first half of 2017 but rest assured that we are instituting measures to improve the situation,” and further appealed to the Cooperating Partners Group to render financial support to Zambia.

Mr. Mutati disclosed that to ensure that the Government’s prudential fiscal policies took a firm-hold on management of the fiscus, a FISP database clean-up exercise was underway and that a lot of non-deserving persons and fake beneficiaries had been weeded-out and banned from further accessing FISP incentives.

“We are slowing down on debt accumulation while striking the revenue mobilisation balance by increasing our domestic resource collection efforts,” he stated.

The Minister took time to brief the Cooperating Partners Group on Zambia’s engagement with the IMF and reiterated the commitment of the country to stay awake and keep a stern eye on the agreed benchmarks and performance criteria in order to reach the IMF Board decision point next month.

“We will use the IMF platform to consolidate our resolve to strictly adhere to world-class financial and economic management practices. It will become a way of life,” said Mr. Mutati.

Mr. Mutati also acknowledged the positive impact that visits to Zambia in 2017 by business, trade, and investment groups from countries such as France, Ghana, Britain, Morocco, South Africa, Rwanda, Poland, and Sweden have had on the current improvement of market sentiments and perception of the country as one of the best destinations for investment and business in Africa.

President Edgar Lungu has advised the people of Luapula province to ignore people claiming that he is a dedicator.

 President Lungu says the assertions are being made by people who want to own the PF party.

 The Head of State said when he addressed Mansa residents who turned up to receive him at Mansa airport.

He appealed to the party structures to start preparing for 2021 elections by recruiting more members.

 The party will only gainer votes once more people are recruited to join the ruling party, said the Republican President.

 He said if the PF party false to win the 2021 elections the development taking place across the country will be lost. 

 The President disclosed that the PF party has become bigger and more attractive.

 He has since implored party structures to consolidate the gains the ruling party has achieved.

 Meanwhile President Lungu says the hosting of the Luapula expo and investors conference will open up the province for investment.

 He said the province is endowed with abundant resources which can help to bring development in the country.

 President Lungu said Luapula has the potential to contribute to the growth of the national economy.

 He stressed that more needs to be done so as to market the province to would be local and international investors. 

 The President assured the people of Luapula that government will work tirelessly in advertising the province for investment.

 And speaking earlier PF Deputy Secretary General Mumbi Phiri told the Party structures not to give chance to the opposition political parties.

 Mrs Phiri said Luapula is a strong hold of PF party adding that party structures must be strengthened in the province. 

 She urged party members not to be worried with people being chased from the party.

 Meanwhile, Luapula Province Minister Nickson Chilangwa  has thanked President Lungu for accepting to grace the official opening of the Luapula expo and investment conference which will run from the 26th to 31st July 2017.

PF Secretary General Davies Mwila says the party has notified the Speaker of the National Assembly Dr. Patrick Matibini on its decision to expel Roan Member of parliament Chishimba Kambwili in exercise of its powers under the Party Constitution.

“In this regard, Sir, since Hon Chishimba Kambwili is no longer our member, he ceases to represent the interests of the Patriotic Front in the House”, stated the letter to the Honourable Speaker.

The PF at the weekend announced the expulsion of the duo for gross misconduct that tarnished the image of the party.

And Mr. Mwila says the party Secretariat has written letters of expulsion from the party to Mr. Kambwili and former Nkana Constituency MP Mwenya Musenge, respectively.

He has stated that the decision to expel the duo was in line with the disciplinary powers vested in the Central Committee under the Party Constitution.

Mr Mwila’s letter cited relevant abuse of Party Constitutional provisions for reasons for expulsion of the duo.

The duo are,therefore, urged to  hand over all party’s property that may be in their possession to the Patriotic Front Secretariat”, the letter reads.

He has however in the same letter wished them all the best in their future endeavours.

And addressing the media at City Airport this Afternoon, Mr. Mwila expressed disappointment with Mr. Kambwili had grown cold feet about putting his self-proclaimed popularity in Roan Constituency to test.

“The man has been bragging about being so popular and PF is craving for that by-election, but he is a flip-flop, full of contradictions, he opens his mouth and puts his foot into it.

“ Zambians must be wondering that in one breathe, he insults the party, and in another, he is busy writing “love letters” in certain sections hallucinating over his so called undying love for PF,” he said.

He said it clear that PF is addictive hence the reason why Rainbow leader Wynter Kabimba remains interested in commenting in their in-house decisions such as the party’s preferred candidate for 2021.

This is contained in a statement issued to ZANIS by PF Director for Media Sunday Chanda

Bloomberg website is reporting that that Investors are overlooking Zambia’s political risk and buying the nation’s assets as the price of copper, its biggest export, rises.

The yield on Zambia’s $1 billion Eurobonds due April 2024 have fallen 135 basis points this year to 7.55 percent on Wednesday. The southern African nation’s currency has appreciated 12 percent against the dollar in 2017, making the kwacha the continent’s best performer after Mozambique’s metical. Copper prices are at their highest in more than two years. The metal used in plumbing and electrical wiring accounts for about 70 percent of Zambia’s export earnings.

At the same time, the country’s main opposition leader, Hakainde Hichilema has been detained for over 100 days on treason charges. President Edgar Lungu this month imposed emergency measures and gave the authorities extra powers to detain suspects for more than 48 hours, after what he said was an arson attack at the country’s biggest market, and parliament approved extending this for three months.

“The drop in the yield of Zambian government bonds is 100 percent attributable to the copper price, as the political situation worsened over the course of the last months,” said Lutz Roehmeyer, a director at Landesbank Berlin Investment GmbH in Berlin, who helps oversee $2.6 billion including Zambian Eurobonds. “Politics have short legs and fundamentals are all that count.”

Political tensions in the country could jeopardize its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over an economic program, Fitch Ratings Ltd. said July 17. Zambia is still on course to reach a staff-level agreement with the Washington-based lender this month to take to its board for final approval in August, Finance Minister Felix Mutati said this week.

Expectations that Zambia will access a loan from the fund has “allowed investors to put any concerns surrounding domestic political tensions to one side,” David Willacy, a foreign-exchange trader at INTL FCSTone Ltd. in London who monitors the kwacha, said.

“It wouldn’t be all that surprising that in the event the country scuppered its chances of a IMF deal because of political decisions, the kwacha gave up all of its 2017’s strength,” he said by email. “Investor confidence in the country and its economy is built on a fragile economic recovery, and as quickly as dollars have come into the country this year, they could as quickly be removed.”

Source Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-26/copper-trumps-politics-as-investors-take-shine-to-zambian-assets

New facility designed to build capacities of SMEs and empower them with ICT tools

Vodafone has cut the ribbon on its first enterprise development centre at Society Business Park in Lusaka’s Central Business District (CBD). The new business zone is targeted at the growing small-to-medium-sized businesses seeking ICT solutions to help facilitate growth and expansion.

Vodafone Zambia Chief Executive Officer, Lars Stork, highlighted the important role Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play in ensuring small businesses experience growth and engage competitively on a continental and global scale.

“We understand that In Zambia, the SME business sector makes up roughly 95% of the total businesses and contributes to 87% of informal employment. This translates into over 3 million people being employed by SMEs. These figures demonstrate the need to provide technical support and capacity building initiatives from an ICT perspective to SMEs.”

“Vodafone is focused on supporting small business by not only providing quality services, but also educating SMEs on how to best leverage connectivity to increase their efficiency and reduce costs,” added Mr Stork.

And Lusaka Executive Mayor, Wilson Kalumba, noted that mobile technology and connectivity is now an essential part of doing business.

“We recognise that in this day and age, it’s virtually impossible to run a business without utilising mobile technology and connectivity. The aim of internet providers such as Vodafone Zambia is to bring small business owners and operators great services while taking the time to educate and support them in how to use them,” he said.

Earlier in the year, the next generation operator attended the 8^th Ease of Doing Business Initiative (EDBI) conference in Livingstone, where company CEO Lars Stork, implored small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to embrace new information technology to boost their businesses and fortify their significant contribution to the economic growth and development of the nation.