The Zambian Government should thrive to find ways to develop the economy even in the middle of global crises as no one can project when we will have a period were there is no overarching global crises. Even before the Covid 19 pandemic has been completely eliminated, the Russia – Ukraine conflict has taken Centre stage.
Government should instead look at how they can leverage about $25 million of Copper exports daily and how part of that revenue can come back to into local banks and the Zambian economy to help deal with the development needs of the country during times of crises.
A renowned economist has charged that every crisis comes with opportunities, and that crisis will never stop coming, thus what a government ought to do is continue looking at the nature of the crisis and putting in place mechanisms that can mitigate against that crisis and take advantage of some opportunities or silver linings which may arise as a result of the crisis.
Yusuf Dodia has advised that the economy of a nation or Zambia in particular cannot wait for its progress to be determined by external forces by waiting for a crisis to come to an end. There has to be some actions that are within our control.
“I believe that it is the responsibility of government to come up with mechanisms to address these global challenges and their local impact, because as a country there is need to be masters of our own country’s destiny, hence there is need to make decisions that take into account the changing economic situations and adjust programs accordingly”, Dodia stated.
In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Dodia said that the country cannot sit and wait, that things will get better when something else is resolved by others, that might not be in the best interest of the nation.
He further added that as a nation, the elephant in the room is that Zambia is exporting about $25 million (twenty five million dollars) of copper on a daily basis (8,500,000 tons @ $11k per ton/365 days) and very little of that copper earning is coming back into the economy.
Dodia challenged the government to put in place mechanisms to ensure that some of these copper export earnings come back into the nation’s banks and economy, it would take care of a lot of challenges that country has at the moment.
He said that the copper mining industry which is responsible for about $9 billion dollars’ worth of exports every year (850,000 tons annual production @$11k per ton) is contributing very little to the growth of the Zambian economy apart from creating a few job opportunities, giving a few contracts to miners and mining contractors and paying mineral royalty taxes which they pay.
Dodia stated that “beyond that, they are not doing much compared to the volume of and value of copper which leaves the country to the small contributions that is being made to the economy, it simply shows that there is very little to be appreciated”.
He said that the country is afraid to challenge the Copper mining industry in the way the country should benefit from the industry, hence the low earnings or funds remitted back into the economy from these exports.
The economist told ZBT that sometimes a lot of it is misguidance goes on, for instance if guidance is obtained from the IMF, the world bank and other supporting developing partners. It’s important to understand that their interests are different with our interests. They may not want the country to prosper, they may want it to remain in difficulties and in poverty.
Have you ever seen these institutions support the country or promote efforts by the country to get more retention of Copper export earnings?, he asked.
