Economist Esther Banda has emphasized the need for the government to implement policies and statutory instruments that support the manufacturing and agricultural sectors in order to bolster the performance of the Kwacha.
Speaking exclusively to the Zambian Business Times (ZBT), Banda highlighted the temporary stability of the Kwacha at K24 per dollar and stressed the necessity for long-term measures through supportive policies.
Banda emphasized the importance of government support for the private sector, particularly the manufacturing and agricultural industries, to enhance production and reduce dependency on imports.
She suggested that increasing forex through the mining sector and promoting value addition in the copper industry could contribute to strengthening the Kwacha. Banda also proposed local processing of raw copper to generate more revenue and reduce the outflow of raw materials.
She underscored the strategic position of Zambia in the SADC region and advocated for promoting local processing of copper to add value to the country’s export products.
Banda urged the government to take steps to enhance value addition in the agricultural sector, which could ultimately lead to an improvement in the performance of the Kwacha.
“What would be very important is that the private sector including the manufacturing and agricultural sectors are supported by the Government of the day, through policies and Statutory instruments that can bring about enhancement in production, if we cannot produce to import let us produce to consume so that we reduce on importation which makes the currency weaker,” she said.
“We are exporting copper in raw form, why don’t we have a mechanism that will enable our industries to begin to process copper locally in terms of finished copper cables, that way when we add value addition we will get more money, we are strategically positioned in the SADC region such that we export our copper to even three or more neighboring Countries, why should our copper go to China and come back in form of finished products, these things cannot be done in the short term but steps can be taken by the Government, the Kwacha can only increase if we enhance value addition through agriculture product,” she said.
