ZAMBIA – A STABLE ECONOMY WITH AN UNSUSTAINABLE DEBT

October 24, 1964 Zambia gained independence from Britain. Fifty-Three (53) years later, we took a look into this peaceful African country.

Zambia recently celebrated it’s 53rd Independence Anniversary from Great Britain on October 24th. The event highlighted Zambia’s qualities, as being peaceful while promoting unity in the Southern African Development Community.  These qualities makes the economy investment attractive for it’s thriving mining industry.

During the event, President Edgar Chagwa Lungu awarded and honoured ten Zambians for their distinguished services to the country. The ceremony was held at the state house in Lusaka.

As we celebrated with Zambia, we also looked into the country’s current challenges.

The government recently banned the harvesting of the Mukula tree, which is locally referred to as Green Gold. Due to the high demand for the tree by the Chinese, there has been an alarming harvesting and deforestation. It is believed that the heart wood (inner brown part) can be used for making gun butts, the second layer is used for making furniture, and the outer part contains medicinal value.

On the other side, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), recently expressed concern over Zambia’s public debt, starting that “government’s external borrowing plans needed to be reconciled key program objective of putting the debt on a sustainable path”. Zambia has been seeking a bailout since 2014, valued at US $1.3 billion from the IMF.

Despite these challenges, the government of Zambia has been making great strides towards diversifying its economy, the financial sector has seen more service offerings aimed at increasing trade. Today, firms are exploring ways to offer more specialised financial products – investment banking, issuance of corporate bonds, etc.