Economist Yusuf Dodia says as the Kwacha strongly gains, there is need to make both the agriculture and manufacturing sectors more competitive, efficient and cost reflective as the two sectors are the future of Zambia’s economic growth.
Dodia said a strong currency means that there is stability of the exchange rate and this translates into predictability in the economy which avoids price change every now and then hence the need to keep the kwacha stable.
In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Dodia said the Zambian economy is one that is considering the inflation rate and as inflation goes down, prices of commodities also reduce because it calls for the need to buy foreign currency in order to import raw materials and goods which are found and sold in Zambian shops thereby having more forex in the Zambian economy.
He explained that it is important that Zambia maintains a stable exchange rate and continues to see the inflation rate come down adding that the agriculture and manufacturing sectors are in need of competitiveness among other things in order to maintain and help the sectors grow as opposed to banning foreign products from the Zambian Market.
“What we need to do is not to protect the Zambian farmers and manufacturers by banning imports, what we need to do is to study why some imported products are cheaper than those grown by our local farmers”, he said.
Dodia stated that Zambia is a member of the African Union, SADC and the COMESA free trade area and as such Zambia is not supposed to ban products coming from neighboring countries as that is going off the protocols it signed into noting that what is needed is to make Zambian agriculture and manufacturing sectors more competitive.
He said in order to protect these two sectors, there is also need to look at familiar experiences that other countries have experienced.
