Government has observed that the 44th edition of the Zambia International Trade Fair (ZITF) has come at a time of economic uncertainty.
Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Richard Taima said Zambia’s economy was currently in an unstable condition mainly due to the global economic recession.
Mr. Taima said this yesterday when he officially opened the one day small scale business forum at the ZITF’s presidential pavilion.
“The 2009 Trade Fair has come at a time of uncertainty regarding our economy. We all know that the global economic growth slowed down from 3.7 per cent to 2.5 per cent in 2008,” he said.
He however said government had already taken steps to redress the situation.
He said already government had found a strategic partner at Luanshya Mine, adding that the move had brought relief in the country.
Mr. Taima further said government had embarked on other supportive measures such as the announced reduction in customs duty on heavy fuels mainly used in the mining sector from 30 per cent to 15 per cent.
He also said the deferring of value added tax (VAT) on copper concentrates as another measure being taken by government through the Ministry.
He explained that all the measures were being put in place to reduce the cost of business in the mining industry, so as to encourage existing mines to remain in business.
The ongoing ZITF is expected to be officially opened by Republican President Rupiah Banda and his Tanzanian counterpart Jakaya Kikwete on Sunday.
ZANIS
Bushe which part of town is on the picture? Too conjested.
I don’t think that picture is from Trade Fair Grounds, That is City Market in Lusaka. Have these new owners of the mines in Luanshya already operating ?
Ubutungwa the picture is at Lusaka city market in town centre. imagine thats why i hate living in Lusaka bcoz of congestion leading to theft. I think its high time they redesigned Lusaka. And What has happened to the redesigning process that was started in the Mwanawasa regime? Please let them implement the programme
Taima… what is your boss (RB) doing about the terrible economy of Zambia????
The question is wen was our economy stable dont just tok tok do something and the funny is that our grz is always planing wat do they plan maestro saysomething.
yeah! thats city market…
Hope For the Best But Prepare For the Worst.
wow
Reccesion or no Reccession, Zambia’s story is the same. Poverty, High inflation, unemployment, Corrpution, no proper health care, no press freedom, compromised judical system, dilapidated infrastrature, poor road net work. In short living below the POVERTY DATAMU LINE.
dodo dont be too negative.. you the same ones who go abroad and dont promote your country..Zambian has lots of potential.. you need to be selling your country wherever you are.. you will be surprised how by just telling your further american mates that Zambia is a nice tourist location, how you would lead to an increase of forex from the tourist sector.. you will not even realise that you are helping but its small things like that that help..not always looking at the negative side of things.. every country has its negative and positive sides.. i bet you have american passport now..dont blame your thinking!
#7. Taumfwa sana iwe sana mwaice. Ukaponokwa nga twakumana. Why do you always support govt? You can take forex to zambia but you will never see where it goes. So just concentrate on your family.
Taima how good was the ecomy before the recession? RB and his cabinet must give us the way forward not stories.
But seriously, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the only countries that seem to be hit by the economic crises within our region. If you look at the way Angola and Mozambique are developing, you will swear there is no global recession, Malawi is another country in our region that is doing so great and so is Namibia.
……..and that lady buying tomatoes has a good backside
#13 Those countries have got leaders who are responsible and who cares for the people. Have ever heard that a Tanzanian, or Namibian President or Minister has gone for medical treatment in South Africa or South African President has gone to Malawi for medical checkup? Its because they respensible leaders. Not the kind of trash we have in Zed.
#14 Kanshi naiwe naumumona. taumfwa sana mambala.
#10. We are dealing with a very stubborn govt which can not hear advice, let them alone hear it from themselves. It is not being negative, they are negative themselves. They do not want positive criticism.
This is expected..and poverty levels continue to sky rocket…..
Prepare.
When has it ever been stable, you forget that the recession in Zambia started in 1964 .. The recession thats there now is white people going broke and digging into their savings , zambians are born broke and savings are a luxury. BTW LSKTIMES you slacking on your number of stories a day you have a good rival in the qfm website thats updates it’s news every two hours.
Stop the speculation of the ecconmiy ever doing fine in these times.Besides in Zambia we have had had this reccesion thing going on since i donno.Read betwwen the lines and tell the nation what they need to know and not what you ant them to do.
We do not need to be reminded about Zambia’s economy being unstable as it has been like that for a long time.I have been told by those who were old enough around 1964 and just after Zambia got her independence that one Kwacha was equal to one Pound.Since then,the Kwacha has been depreciating.We should not live in the past but we should learn from the past. Our leaders and planners need to go back in time,review what has caused this instability and maybe just maybe we can begin to make a visible,positive difference.
Hey slamdog shalapungu is the qfm website free like LT?….just out of interest…..
how can the Economy improve when moribund and corrupt chaps like MABENGA keep on bn reappointed as ministers.our president can put you on the highway to the grave with shock.
We don’t need a headline for this. Its apparent enough.
LT WHAT ABOUT THE STORY OF MAX CHOONGO THE BIG BROTHER GUY WHO DID HE MARRY?
By the way Rb will always be giving excuses for his term of office always blaming of the Global crisis. LPM even when there was Global food shortage in Zambia there wasnt any food problem food was in abundance. He had even kept money aside K40 Billion for bird flue emergencies. Its a matter of leadership RB is not a good leader that we have to accept.
Iwe Taima pipo in Zed dont even knw tht recession u talking abt bcoz thr lives hv owez bn misserable.Hw do u xplain recession 2 the pipo wen 1 person in a ministry can pocket 2bn?Tell thm hw u you’r going 2 better thr living standards
Way to go genius. In the yrs MMD has been in govt, when has the economy ever been stable? Don’t just open your mout because a mic has been shoved in your face.
It is very disturbing that our leaders keep uttering words about our current situation in zambia but never give any concrete measures or steps on how they will get us out of the mess……. do we even have a vision… the bible clearly states that a nation without a vision perishes and at the rate RB and his hunchbacks are going, there is no vision… hes talking about measures…..what measures??.. cuttng govt costs?? giving finished lya mines to the chinese???? with the copper being stolen by the same chinese…and the trading rate of the product so low?….. RB…please tell us what the h-e-c-k is your plan for zambia or LEAVE THAT HOUSE
Ha! ha! my whole life ive never seen the Zambian economy stable,ba minister if you dont have anything to say just shut the it or better still sing a song for the audience even ka ” kankuluwale or juskwata” will do.Its bad enough the way things are dont remind us please
Surprise surprise! Wait a minute did the sun just set today?….sheer stupidity to state that.
Zambians stop talking yourselves down. Zambia is bad but it is still stable compared to other countries in Africa. Malawi is growing but the levels of poverty are still high. Angola and Mozambique are doing so so. Many Mozambiqans still have to go to work in SA. Angola is suffering from fall in diamond and oil prices and the corruption there leaves Zambia behind. Structurally we have been weak because of the colonial economy we inherited that depends on copper. Things are bad but our country is not Somalia or the Congo so lets be thankful for that.
Economy cannot be stable while the government is not stable.
When has the economy ever been stable since the departure of the British?
Inform us when it is stable so that we come back to mother Zambia.