By JAMES KUNDA –
FINANCE Minister Felix Mutati has said Zambia has recovered well from the wounds of economic hardships and is revving up to register further growth in 2018.
Speaking at a PricewaterhouseCoopers limited (PwC) post-2018 budget analysis in Lusaka on Saturday, Mr Mutati said the country had this year recovered favourably from the ‘wounds’ of economic hardships.
“The year 2017 has been promising, next year; it’s about real growth and maybe come 2019, we’ll be back riding in the Ferrari,” Mr Mutati said addressing various business and financial executives.
Mr Mutati projects that Zambia is set to attain real socio-economic growth buoyed by fiscal fitness next year.
The minister said the Government would next year empower the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) with K100 million to enhance domestic tax mobilisation.
He said the economy would be transformed into a realm where infrastructure development projects would no longer lay on the Government’s balance sheet.
This said would enable the country to manage its debt efficiently.
He said the Government would also ensure that the state expenditure sheet was cleaned up across all sectors to eliminate ‘ghost beneficiaries’.
At the same occasion, PwC director Jyoti Mistry hailed the Government’s policy direction in next year’s budget as progressive.
The event also witnessed a panel discussion featuring Mr Mutati, Ms Jyoti, ZRA domestic taxes commissioner Moses Shuko, World Bank Group senior economist Gregory Smith, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Zambia resident representative Alfredo Baldini and Bankers Association of Zambia (BAZ) chairperson Charles Mudiwa.
On the forum, moderated by economist Chibamba Kanyama, Mr Mutati said the IMF board was this month expected to issue a possible update of Zambia’s application for a support package.
Dr Smith, Mr Mudiwa, Mr Baldini, Ms Jyoti and Mr Shuko took turns reaffirming hope for Zambia’s continued economic growth and stabilisation in the long-term.
Meanwhile the Government has allocated K87million for the establishment of an Infrastructure Fund, Finance Permanent Secretary in charge of economic management and finance, Mukuli Chikuba has said.
Mr Chikuba said the Infrastructure Fund would be used to fund projects with money gathered from infrastructure bonds, development banks and the private sector in form of shares.
He said the introduction of the fund was important as financing projects such as roads and railways would be made easier.
Mr Chikuba said the projects to benefit from the fund would be appraised for investors to express interest, depending on their area of interest.
He said this when he and a Zambian delegation comprising officials from the ministries’ of Finance, Infrastructure and Housing and Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL), Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) and Industrial Development Cooperation (IDC) called on Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Emmanuel Mwamba.
This is according to a statement by First Secretary for Press and Public Relations at the Zambian embassy in Pretoria, South Africa Naomi Nyawali.
Mr Chikuba said during meetings between the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA, IDC and Landbank, it was agreed that the Zambian and South African governments would co-invest in the fund and advise how it could be operated.
He said a ceremony to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) as the basis of the cooperation on the project is expected to be signed during the state visit of South African President Jacob Zuma to Zambia this month.
Mr Mwamba said infrastructure development was key in every developing country, making the infrastructure fund welcome.
He said the African Union (AU) and Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) agenda of industrialisation would only be realised when infrastructure such as roads, rail, ports and airports were built.
He said about 70 percent of Zambia’s foreign direct investment came from South Africa, stressing that the bilateral relations between the two countries could not be ignored.