UPND Policy Statement

Not long ago Ms. Jean Kapata and her colleagues in the PF Government lifted the ban on the hunting of lions. Their reasoning was that Zambia had enough lions to be hunted for trophies and that the government had enough safeguards against poaching and the illegal issuance of hunting licenses. Just last month Special Assistant to the President for Project Monitoring and Implementation, Mr. Lucky Mulusa, informed the nation that 35 elephants have been killed by poachers in the last 6 months. The Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA), whose duty is among others to protect endangered animals from poachers, failed to protect these 35 elephants.

The sad part about this story is that Mr. Mulusa further said that the poachers had been arrested but were later released upon payment of a K900 fine. This is laughable if it were not sad. For Ms. Kapata and her colleagues, K900 fine is a deterrent for poaching! According to Mr. Mulusa, the existing legal framework on game management is inadequate; this is exactly what we said in the policy statement in relation to this issue when it appeared the first time. Kapata says we have a robust animal protection system, while another minister in the very same government says we do not have. These are the inconsistencies of the PF we have been talking about.

[pullquote]a lion or leopard can be photographed a million times. The gun, on the other hand will shoot once and kill[/pullquote]

On July 1, 2015, the world woke up to shocking news that Cecil, a 13 year old male lion wearing a tracking collar had been killed by hunters in a National Park in Hwange, Zimbabwe. The hunters claim to have obtained a hunting license but the authorities in Zimbabwe dispute this. This helps solidify our earlier opposition to the lift on the ban of hunting lions. If a lion wearing a tracking collar can be killed by hunters, what hope is there for those without? It is not a secret that our colleagues in Zimbabwe have a better game management system than ours, but even there animals are being illegally hunted. We are now going to Botswana to learn how they do it. Wasn’t this supposed to happen before the lifting of the ban?

Zambia is one of the few countries in the world that still has game such as elephants, lions and other big cats in their natural habitat. We are duty bound to protect these animals for posterity.

However, protecting them also makes a lot of economic sense. They are part of the reason tourists travel from far and beyond to come to Zambia. Tourism in Zambia, if well managed has a potential to create employment for our youth and be a major source of foreign currency.

Thailand raked in US$16 billion last year from tourism. I will end by repeating what I wrote in an earlier statement when the ban on hunting big cats was lifted. I proposed the following alternatives:-

UPND will encourage wildlife conservation. The aim of this will be to protect animals and their habitat for posterity;

UPND will provide incentives for businesses in tourism industry such as reduced or zero rated VAT;

UPND will reduce the number of licenses required for setting up a business in the tourism sector and in general;

UPND will review visa requirements so as to encourage more tourist arrivals;

UPND will enhance training and research in ecosystems science;

UPND will incentivise institutions of higher learning that will teach degree courses in tourism and hospitality.

It is not rocket science to know that a lion or leopard can be photographed a million times. The gun, on the other hand will shoot once and kill. The camera will create jobs and improve the livelihoods of our people.

Compatriots, lets protect that which God has given us. Let us agree with the US Ambassador to Zambia Eric Schultz, who said “Lions belong to the wild and not the wall.”

Hakainde Hichilema
UPND President

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Issued by: UPND National Campaign Centre, Lusaka

Glencore Plc announced yesterday that it will suspend of production at Mopani and Katanga mines in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo respectively for 18 months.During this time the company will build new processing facilities that will lower output costs, the Baar, Switzerland-based commodities supplier and trader said Monday.

A suspension of operations will remove approximately 400,000 tonnes of copper cathode from the market about a quarter of the countries’ copper output.This decision will also eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and kill thousands of jobs.Not a good prospect a year before elections.

Mopani is the largest employer among Zambian mines and accounts for about 26 percent of the country’s production.

The company outlined a $10 billion debt- reduction plan and said it proposes to sell about $2.5 billion in new shares and assets valued at as much as $2 billion. It will also suspend dividend payments.

“The copper suspension is starting immediately,”’ Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg said during a conference call about the debt-reduction plan. “Right now, we will get into effect.”

Baar, Switzerland
7 September, 2015

African Copper – Operational Update

Glencore notes the announcement made by Katanga Mining Limited (Katanga) on 6 September that the Management of Katanga has commenced a review of its business,including operations and expenses, in light of the challenging environment for commodities.

A similar review at Mopani Copper Mines (Mopani) has also commenced.
This will include the suspension of production at Katanga and Mopani for 18 months up until the completion of the expansionary and upgrade projects. This includes the whole ore leach at Katanga and the new shafts and concentrator at Mopani.

A suspension of operations will remove approximately 400,000 tonnes of copper cathode from the market.

The expansionary and upgrade programs will provide a material reduction in overall operating costs at both operations. Once complete, the programs are expected to reduce C1 costs at Katanga and Mopani to c.$1.65lb and c.$1.70lb respectively from more than c.$2.50lb today.

Glencore will continue to fund the expansionary and upgrade projects at both operations.Mutanda Mining continues to perform well, producing above name plate capacity at a C1 cost
of $1.33lb.

President Edgar Lungu’s Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda on Sunday warned that Government may resort to foreign exchange control if the Kwacha slid continues.

But Mr Hichilema said in an interview that reintroducing foreign exchange controls will only worsen the situation.

‘Anybody talking of exchange controls belongs to the archives, anybody talking about exchange controls belongs to the dustbin,’ Mr Hichilema said.

He added ‘Once we reintroduce exchange controls, they will have a different effect on the Zambian economy. You remember what different the Kwacha, the PF introduced SI 33 (statutory instrument Number 33) intended to restrict foreign transactions, what did it do? It damaged the Kwacha, why? because that measures, which was foreign exchange instrument which came through the PF administrative measure, the Kwacha was damaged because we are an import dependent economy, we are not an export led economy.’

Mr Hichilema continued, ‘Now if you reintroduce foreign exchange control, it will put pressure on the few dollars in the market and the effect would be a further depreciation of the Kwacha.’

Mr Hichilema also charged that the markets have totally rejected President Edgar Lungu’s leadership.

‘You now need K10 to buy 1 US dollar, that is over a 100 percent depreciation and most of that depreciation has come from Edgar Lungu’s presidency of how many months, 8 months. this is a clear message that the market is saying they don’t like Edgar Lungu.’

‘Why don’t they like Lungu? Is it because he is tall, no, is it because he sleeps when meetings are going on, maybe not, why they don’t like him, because they believe he has no capacity to run the economy.’

FORMER Minister of Finance Katele Kalumba says the Patriotic Front (PF) administration has a broad range of tested and specific measures to address the downward spiral of the Kwacha.

Dr Kalumba said he is confident that the ruling party’s “arsenal” is effective to address the current economic challenges.

He said this in a statement issued from Chienge yesterday.

“While it is recognised that China’s demand-side is for the short-term under pressure, Zambia has demonstrated its capacity to ring fence itself from global financial crisis twice,” Dr Kalumba said.

He said there are strong internal factors to support the Kwacha when prudent fiscal and monetary measures are effected.

Dr Kalumba said the industry and banking sector should be steadfast and work with the Ministry of Finance in implementing bold measures which have worked before in 2000 and 2008 during a similar situation.

And Dr Kalumba has urged interest groups in the country to develop a proactive stance and embrace dialogue.

“Negative economic sentiments come from lack of consultative dialogue. Zambia needs to be proactive and think outside the box now,” he said.

Meanwhile,

Zambian currency is world’s worst performer this quarter

Widening deficit, rising yields may force government’s hand

Zambia’s Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda is no admirer of the International Monetary Fund. With the nation’s currency plunging to a record and yields on foreign bonds approaching 11 percent, he may soon have to change his mind, according to Rand Merchant Bank.
The kwacha has slumped 27 percent this quarter, the most among more than 150 currencies monitored by Bloomberg, driving up debt-service costs and threatening to fuel inflation and undermine efforts to cut the budget shortfall. The nation’s dollar bonds lost 10 percent in the period, the most after Ecuador out of 31 emerging nations monitored by Bloomberg indexes, as yields on benchmark securities soared 251 basis points to 10.88 percent.

While Zambia’s Treasury has said it won’t need an IMF loan, Chikwanda is running out of options. Copper prices near six-year lows are weighing on the economy, which relies on the metal for more than 70 percent of exports. An electricity shortage because of low water levels at the Kariba Dam hydropower station is reducing mining output at a time when slowing growth in China is cutting demand for commodities and the prospect of a Federal Reserve interest rate draws money away from emerging markets.
“They will probably have to turn to the external market at some stage and seek out multilateral assistance,” Nema Ramkhelawan-Bhana, an analyst at Johannesburg-based RMB, a unit of FirstRand Ltd., said by phone on Friday. “If we continue to see the downward trajectory in commodity prices, specifically base metals, then it would force the finance ministry’s hand.”

President Edgar Lungu would consider exchange controls to arrest the kwacha’s “freefall,” the leader’s spokesman, Amos Chanda, said Sunday. That comes after Chikwanda and central bank Governor Denny Kalyalya said separately on Sept. 3 that currency restrictions would be a backward step. Chikwanda also rejected an approach to the IMF. Lungu on Sept. 4 directed Chikwanda to work with the central bank to “assess additional market intervention measures to address the observed excessive volatility,” the presidency said.
“The IMF is not the best mechanism for helping countries which are down,” Chikwanda said in a speech in Lusaka, the capital. “In some cases it even compounds your difficulties.”
Zambia’s budget deficit will climb to 6.7 percent this year, wider than the targeted 4.6 percent, according to the finance ministry. Standard & Poor’s, which downgraded Zambia’s credit rating to B on July 2, said the shortfall including debt payments may reach 14 percent of GDP.

Government should focus on ensuring the targets to cut the deficit outlined in its Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for 2016 to 2018 are achieved, IMF resident representative Tobias Rasmussen said in an e-mailed response to questions Sunday.

“There is still major political resistance to seriously undertaking a formal aid request,” Gareth Brickman, a market analyst at ETM Analytics NA LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, said in a Sept. 4 note. “It can only be assumed that shortfalls will continue being financed by excessive local debt issuance.”
Higher debt levels would worsen Zambia’s credit profile, increasing the need for IMF assistance, Brickman said.

Fiscal Prudence
The last time the deficit significantly overshot the target, it prompted government to consider an IMF program. The 2013 deficit was almost double government’s 3.1 percent target. In May 2014, Fredson Yamba, secretary to the treasury, said government would start formally engaging the IMF on an aid program. That never happened.
A year later, Yamba signaled that government didn’t need the aid, and was already undertaking most of the fiscal measures an IMF program would have required. The IMF hasn’t received an approach from government and will move quickly if it does, Rasmussen said.
“A staff team would visit Zambia to work with the authorities to develop policies and measures needed to stabilize the situation and put the country on a path of sustained and inclusive growth,” he said.

With an election looming, fiscal prudence may be difficult to maintain, said Irmgard Erasmus, an economist at Paarl, South Africa-based NKC Economists.
Zambia sold $1.25 billion of Eurobonds due 2027 in July at a yield of 9.37 percent, the highest ever for an African issuer. Yields on the securities have climbed to 11 percent. The kwacha weakened to a record low of 10.28 per dollar on Monday before paring losses to trade 1.2 percent down at 10.11 by 10:54 a.m. in Lusaka.
“With next year being another election year, there’s not much scope for an aggressive cut in expenditure right now,” Erasmus said by phone. “With the IMF you can get a more favorable debt. I don’t think that’ll be their first choice. I don’t think they like the strings attached.”

Source:Bloomberg news