By NATION REPORTER
THE appreciation of the Kwacha against major convertible currencies is as a result of meticulous implementation of progressive policies by the PF Government, former Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda has said.
Mr Chikwanda said the appreciation of the Kwacha would be sustainable because of the improving metal prices and the increase in the foreign reserves. “The PF has not played any gimmicks in the appreciation of the Kwacha and gimmicks backfire. So the appreciation of the Kwacha is not partisan and I am a political propagandist. The fundamentals for the performance of the Kwacha are there,” Mr Chikwanda said.
He also advised that Zambia should move away from the dependence on copper as the major export earner and start investing in agriculture.
Mr Chikwanda said Zambia was exporting high quantities of maize and it was economically advisable that the country should expand the agriculture sector because it has proved to be a sustainable means of earning foreign exchange.
“For this marketing season, maize will account for 3.6 million metric tonnes part of which will be exported,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Chikwanda said the PF had become much more popular and sooner than later, the UPND would be obliterated in its perceived strongholds.
He said Zambians, particularly those from Western and North-Western provinces were appreciating the monumental social and infrastructure development in their regions which the PF had so far delivered.
He said the opposition had run out of sensible criticism against the PF and had resorted to propaganda and insults, he said when he appeared on the ZNBC Sunday Interview.
Zambia, he said, was improving in all sectors such as education, health, agriculture and manufacturing because of the PF’s policies. Mr Chikwanda, who is a member of the PF central committee, explained that there has been a sustainable upward thrust in the country’s economy which has been boosted by the high metal prices.
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