By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA  and DELPHINE ZULU –
THE African Development Bank (AfDB) and several key stakeholders are positive that Zambia will bounce back to a positive ecomonic footing following President Edgar Lungu’s bold measures announced during last week’s Press conference at State House.
The President has been hailed by several stakeholders who have expressed satisfaction with the pronouncement aimed at reshaping the country’s economic growth direction.
AfDB resident representative for Zambia Damoni Kitabire said for Zambia to get back to the growth trajectory, some hard choices and good investment decisions had to be made.
Mr Kitabire said in this regard the bold measures announced by President Lungu were steps in the right direction in efforts aimed at addressing the current economic crisis.
Currently, Zambia is facing significant headwinds in the form of falling copper prices and electricity power deficit that are affecting the economic growth, and fiscal pressures that are unsustainable in the long run.
Mr Kitabire said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the depreciation of the Kwacha against the United States dollar had added to the hardships on the country’s most vulnerable citizens.
Mr Kitabire said despite these headwinds, the AfDB saw the current situation as temporal and remained positive that the country would get back on its growth path.
He said strengthening public finances was vital to revitalising the economic growth, and that the budget credibility needed to be enhanced if Zambia was to get to the growth trajectory.
“The market usually wants to see a tighter fiscal policy with expenditure side reducing while the tax revenues would need to grow.
This would be an important step in rebuilding confidence in the Zambian economy,” Mr Kitabire said.
He said it was important for Zambia to address the electricity supply deficit, which was significantly hurting small and medium-scale producers adding to their cost of emergency back-up power.
Mr Kitabire said that the Kariba dam was expected to produce under-capacity for the next three to four years and in the meantime Zambia would be dependent on imported power.
“It is important that the country attracts foreign investors into the electricity sector as Zambia does not have the financial resources to build sufficient capacity on its own,” Mr Kitabire said.
He said the move to a cost-reflective tariffs would further motivate Zesco to engage in power purchasing agreements, knowing that they could recoup their cost through electricity sales.
Mr Kitabire said in the long-term the country needed to move away from copper dependency, saying that this would be an ongoing process, but the country needed to make a concerted effort to focus on industries and sectors that offered the best potential.
Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Yoaming has described President Lungu’s pronouncements as hugely encouraging and an indication that he is determined to see the country pull through the current economic situation.
Mr Yang said the people of Zambia were looking forward to hearing what their President’s plans were for the economy, which was experiencing shocks.
“The address has shaped the future of Zambia. This is the time that the people of Zambia wanted to listen to their President who has so far given them hope, and for us as ambassadors, we also wanted to listen to him and see what is sinking in his mind over the many issues affecting the nation,” Mr Yang said.
Norwegian Ambassador to Zambia Arve Ofstad said the address showed that the Government knew what was necessary for the country and that it was timely as there were political considerations as to when and not to make such pronouncements.
“It is very good that the President has decided to come out and make such promising statements. It is very necessary in these difficult situations and he actually outlined serious measures that are vital, although some of them are tough,” Mr Ofstad said.
His country is looking forward to the cost-effective tariffs because it wants to come and invest in the energy sector, whether hydro or solar.
UNICEF country representative Hamid el-Bashir Ibrahim said Zambia was endowed with various economic areas and praised President Lungu for realising that there were other avenues on how best the nation could boost its economy.
“We will work closely with the Government in the framework of corporation and will contribute to the social development in Zambia,” he said.