Zambia on track to economic recovery, says Katele

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 10:58:00 +0000

By MUKOSELA KASALWE

THE country is on the right path to economic recovery and government should endeavor not to embark on infrastructure projects not catered for in the budget, says former finance minister Katele Kalumba.

Mr Kalumba said that the economy was on a right path but was quick to note that there was need to aggressively attract direct foreign investment and urged the Bank of Zambia to loosen its tight monetary policy to enable more investor’s access credit for productivity.

He said that it was vital for the banking sector to come up with creative instruments which would allow for more lending avenues, saying the liquidity in the market was minimal.

“Zambia is on the right course in terms of economic policy but I put a word of caution, let us not be complacent in terms of fiscal prudence and the government should not announce new infrastructure projects not in the budget line,” Mr Kalumba said.

Mr Kalumba said that Zambia needed to secure reasonable debt which would be directed at productive activities and has commended the U$50 million investment by the British investors for rice farming in Mungwi.

And Mr Kalumba observed that technical and financial support for small scale farmers such as the agriculture enhancement and management programme among others needed to be published so that farmers were made aware of.

He implored farmers in rural areas to grow various crops and not only maize following the armyworm attack.

Mr Kalumba said that the political atmosphere for investment in the country was right and that it needed to be maintained to attract more investors.

He applauded President Edgar Lungu for taking a managerial approach on his directive to compel ministries hand in quarterly performance reports saying that this was what was needed unlike a bureau tic or political approach.

Mr Kalumba expressed hope that President Lungu’s checking on development projects  by himself would ensure that these were completed on schedule  and people benefited from them.