Italian President Sergio Mattarella has reaffirmed his country’s commitment to support Zambia reach an understanding with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on its debt restructuring programme.

Mr Mattarella said his country is ready to help Zambia in its economic recovery trajectory.

Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on President Hichilema at State house today, Mr Mattarella said this is one way of strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries.

“Italy stands ready to help Zambia in many sectors of the economy such as Mining, Agriculture, health and education among others. Zambia is a beacon of peace and a promoter of democratic tenets,” he said.

He explained that Italy is committed to further strengthen ties with Zambia by setting up businesses and infrastructure development among others across the country.

Mr Mattarella also praised Zambia for its resolve to fight corruption saying the vice retards economic development.

And President Hakainde Hichilema hailed Italy for the huge contributions it renders to Zambia in all sectors of the economy such as energy, Agriculture among others.

Mr Hichilema noted that the cooperation between the two countries spans many years ago when successful leaders of Italy and Zambia initiated warm relationship.

The President further called on Italy to support Zambia in its journey to access the IMF bailout which is expected to cushion the country’s challenges in many sectors of the economy.

“Indeed Zambia is grateful for Italy’s contributions and support in all the sectors of the economy especially in energy, education, agriculture among others,” he said.

Mr Hichilema added that Zambia is endowed with mineral resources which needs value addition, stating that Italy can help in that area in a bid to transform the country.

He further assured Italy of Zambia’s continuous upholding of democratic tenets, peace and stability to foster social and economic development as democracy is the hallmark of development.

The President commended his Italian counterpart for visiting Zambia as the move will spur deeper mutual understanding between the two countries.

The Italian President who is accompanied by First Lady Laura Mattarella arrived in the country yesterday.

Apathy has characterized the continuous voter registration in Central Province.

Kabwe Municipal Council Assistant Public Relations Manager, Nancy Chenga, says the public response has been poor and has urged eligible members of the public to take advantage of the registration centre domiciled at the Civic Centre and get registered.

Ms. Chenga, said in Kabwe that the continuous voter registration is an opportunity for all categories of eligible voters to get the voters’ card.

“The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has launched the continuous voter registration in all the ten provincial centers to ensure an accurate register that captures all eligible Zambians that have attained 18 years and above,” Ms. Chenga said.

She has advised the members of the public to use the continuous voter registration to replace defaced and lost voters’ cards as well as to surrender voters’ cards of the deceased persons.

“During the continuous voters registration we are replacing defaced and lost voters’ cards, and collecting voters’ cards for deceased persons in order to remove them from the register and ensure accurate numbers,” she said.

She has urged people who could have also relocated to new places to take this opportunity to go to the registration centre and change the polling station.

“We have given an opportunity to people who could have shifted from different residential places or polling stations to change their polling stations to where they have relocated to so that they don’t have challenges when it comes to voting,” she stated.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) on 1^st June 2022 launched the continuous voters’ registration in ten provincial centers and will progressively move to other centers, a paradigm shift from the previous occasional voter registration programme.

Meanwhile, Kabwe District Voter Education Officer (DVEO), Lityness Mkandawire, has appealed to the people of Kabwe who are eligible to visit the registration centre and register as voters.

Ms. Mkandawire says members of the general public are free to access the centre every day from Monday to Friday, adding that people should not wait for 2026 to have the voters’ card.

She has advised those that have lost their voters’ card to get a police report and together with the National Registration Card (NRC) go to the centre and get a replacement.

“Those that have lost their voters’ cards, they should go to the nearest police station and get a police report. The requirement for a lost card is a police report and an NRC in order to have a replacement,” Ms. Mkandawire clarified.

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) has called for a pro-poor 2023 National Budget.

The Ministry of Finance and National Planning recently called for proposals as it formulates the 2023 National Budget which is expected to be unveiled in the last quarter of this year.

JCTR Executive Director Fr. Alex Muyebe, S.J. said People want to see less punitive taxes in the next National Budget.

Fr. Muyebe said no country can achieve sustained economic growth for national development without effectively addressing wide-spread poverty in its population.

The Catholic Priest said Zambia today has become so accustomed to coexisting peacefully with poverty.

“After an estimated 1.5 percentage point increase in the international poverty rate between 2019 and 2020, the poverty headcount in Zambia is projected to have remained high, at about 60% in 2021 (the World Bank Macro Poverty Outlook, April 2022). The rise in poverty has been largely driven by falling incomes in urban areas, especially among those relying on employment income from the informal sector. A World Bank Household Monitoring phone survey found that 4 in 5 households reported a drop in income from nonfarm business, and that 1 in 3 reported a reduction or disappearance of wages due to the pandemic (ibid). A recent Socio-economic Impact Assessment conducted by the National Statistical Office found that 9 in 10 households have experienced spikes in the price of food, and that 64% of these had to reduce food consumption as a result (ibid),” Fr. Muyebe said.

“The hard fact is that the number of people living in poverty in Zambia remains very high. Poverty has always been one of the major barriers to human development in Zambia since independence in 1964. No country can achieve sustained economic growth for national development without effectively addressing wide-spread poverty in its population. Unfortunately, in Zambia today we have become so accustomed to coexisting peacefully with poverty that we no longer get alarmed when we hear of stressful stories of our brothers and sisters in poor households around the country who are struggling to barely survive due to the rising cost of living. Something is not adding up. Even if the speed at which prices are increasing is on the slowdown, the fact is that commodity prices are very high and are likely to remain that way for some time given the ever increasing fuel pump prices,” he noted.

Fr. Muyebe continued:”There are several cases out there of guards, maids and farm workers earning far less than K1, 000 per month. This is not meant to be a finger pointing exercise but rather an attempt to rally support from all stakeholders (all of us) across the country to wake up to this very sad reality and together to begin to seriously address poverty in Zambia. Poverty is not about statistics but it is about the lives of our brothers and sisters in our society who are being deprived of decent livelihood and the minimum level of human dignity. We note that Bernard’s household like several others across the country can hardly afford fruits in their food basket. Seasonal food items like fruits accounted for a negligible reduction in the JCTR’s Basic Needs and Nutrition basket in April and May 2022.”

Fr. Muyebe said the government should demonstrate that it is a listening regime by formulating a pro-poor 2023 national budget.

“In fact, the social and economic reality in the country is getting worse. As we continue to interact with people living in challenging circumstances, it is very clear that the least the government can do as it puts together the 2023 national budget is to demonstrate that it is a listening government, notwithstanding the challenges of prolonged debt negotiations, by putting in place some measures to address the majority’s demand for affordable food and shelter. People want not only jobs but also decent incomes and a living wage coupled with less punitive taxes. These demands are not new. The party that is now in government reverberated the people’s aspirations in some of its election promises in the run up to the elections last year. The people of Zambia are keenly watching to see if the new administration is going to fulfill a great deal of its election promises by the time of its first anniversary in government next month,” Fr. Muyebe concluded.

Economist Trevor Hambayi says reduction in inflation rate is due to liquidity challenge in the economy.

Mr. Hambayi said the absence of spending is driving the current decreasing inflation.

He said there is nothing uneconomical with having a decreasing inflation with increasing prices.

“Economic definition of inflation is the rate at which prices increase. All it’s saying is that the rate at which the prices are increasing has reduced from 23% to 9.7% but still an increase in prices,” Mr. Hambayi said.

“The one key question should be what is driving the decrease in inflation. They are a number of factors that drive inflation but the single largest factor driving our current decrease in inflation is the liquidity challenge in the economy,” he said.

He said Government payments have always been key ingredients in driving our economy and the suspension of payment of arrears and the continued govt domestic borrowing of over K5 billion monthly from the domestic capital market has constrained availability of cash in the economy.

“This absence of spending is driving our current decreasing inflation. A sound and solid economy needs an underlying asset to sustain macro stability and thus important that we build a solid private sector led growth that will reduce inflation on the strength of productivity,” he said.

The Centre for Policy Trade and Development (CTPD) has urged African countries to devise mechanisms on how they will address the looming food crisis in the region.

CTPD Executive Director, Isaac Mwaipopo has observed that with continued negative effects of climate change affecting most countries coupled with the effects of the Russia and Ukraine war, there is need for the member states to intensify their food production efforts.

Mr. Mwaipopo told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka that as Zambia hosts the 4th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union from 14 to 17 July 2022, African countries should use the meeting to find measures of improving its farming production capacity.

He explained that with the theme well centered on food production and nutrition, there is a need for countries to grow enough food for themselves.

“It is good that the summit theme highlights what is happening in the agriculture sector not only in Zambia. Many African countries are grappling with a number of challenges some coming from the negative effects of climate change which is impacting on their ability to grow enough food especially nutritious food,” he said.

He regretted that statistics indicate that many African countries will by 2023 face critical food shortages arising from increased production costs such as inputs.

Mr. Mwaipopo said this is why as African leaders meet for the summit in Zambia, they should discuss how the region should consider investing more in industrialization and start local manufacturing of vital farming requirements such as fertilizer.

He explained that it is the dependency of inputs like fertilizer from Western countries that has resulted in increased production costs of agriculture, hence the need to set up manufacturing plants within Africa will make it easy for the continent to produce adequate food.

“It is sad to note that some statistics indicate that SADC and a number of other countries are likely to face food shortages, this is not only peculiar to Africa, but the whole world due to the Russia-Ukraine war, therefore we are confident that the African leaders will during the summit have conversations on how industries can be set up within the continent which will make it easy to produce vital inputs such as fertilizer that is needed for our food production, “he added.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mwaipopo also expressed optimism that Zambia is expected to significantly benefit from hosting the 4th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the AU.

He explained that the meeting will present the country with the opportunity to market its potential to host international events and its prospects in various sectors of the economy.

Mr. Mwaipopo stated that this is an opportunity for Zambia and other countries to engage each other on a number of trade agreements that have been signed in order to strengthen their relations especially in the movement of goods and services.

He further appealed to African countries to step up their efforts and expedite the modalities on different trade agreements and ensure there is competitive goods and services that can be traded within the continent through expanded Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

And the Cross Border Traders Association of Zambia (CBTA), has described the hosting of the 4th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the AU as a milestone to the country’s trade and business community.

Association Chairperson, Goodson Mbewe said this is because the meeting will come with increased demand for local and international goods and services.

Mr. Mbewe noted that as an Association, the members are already positioning themselves to accrue the benefits that will come with the country hosting high profile dignitaries.

“As an Association we see a lot of benefits coming with the country hosting this meeting, we just hope that issues that impede the effective facilitation of trade will be tabled, we need to speak with one voice as Africa, the leaders should iron out those Non-Tariff Barriers and replace them with policies that we will ensure that Africa produces commodities that can be sold in any country without challenges,” he said.

Zambia is scheduled to host the 41st Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union and the 4th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the AU and the Regional Economic Communities (RECS) from July 14 to 17, in Lusaka under the theme “Strengthening Resilience in Nutrition and Food Security on the African Continent:

About 13 Heads of State and over 800 delegates are expected to attend the AU mid-year summit in Lusaka, Zambia.

THE Kitwe Chamber of Commerce Trade and Industry charges that calls for value addition to local products will remain unattainable as long as lending institutions refuse to
adjust their financing conditions.

Chamber president Emmanuel Mbambiko says because their high cost of borrowing, commercial banks are making it difficult for entrepreneurs to go into value addition

Mr Mambiko in an interview, Wednesday, noted that although the government has already provided a conducive environment
for doing business, the cost of financing from commercial banks however is unbearable.

”The financing institutions are the ones withholding the developmental activities in this country, they are too rigid and expensive, I don’t Know if it’s government borrowing that is making them\

remain ridiculously high to make government withdraw from that borrowing window, but they need to come on board otherwise they are not helping the country,” He said

He further accused commercial banks of having formed a cartel to deprive local entrepreneurs of funding by exaggerating their lending rates
which are pegged within on the same range for all banks.

Mr. Mbambiko noted that it was unfortunate that government cannot force banks to relax its lending rates in a liberated economy that
Zambia has adopted.

He expressed hope that the Central Bank will rise to the occasion and advise the commercial banks to relax their lending.

conditions to boost economic activities.

He however commended President Hakainde Hichilema for emphasizing on the need for Zambian entrepreneurs to add value to their product during the just ended
Trade Fair in Ndola.

Value addition to locally produced products will enable entrepreneurs and the country at large to increase the economic value of the local products.

During the just ended Trade Fair in Ndola, which was held under the theme: ‘Promoting Value Addition for Sustainable Growth’, President Hakainde Hichilema stressed on the need to add value to the local
products through processing of finished products.

The Mukula tree logs as one of the products that , President Hakainde cited , can be processed instead of exporting it raw when it can be processed and used to make good quality desks locally.