ZAMBIA’S economy is projected to grow at 6.5 percent and 6.7 percent in 2011 and 2012 with manufacturing, electricity, gas and water and construction sectors making major contributions, the latest African Economic Outlook report has said.
The report says the expected growth in the manufacturing sector will contribute greatly to Zambia’s overall growth prospects by reducing dependence on imports, with a wider base of locally-produced goods and services.
In the secondary industry, for 2011 and 2012, growth is projected at 9.6 percent and 10.1 percent respectively with manufacturing, gas and water and construction making major contributions.
In the primary industries, agriculture is performing well and was expected to grow by 7.6 percent in 2010, the report reads.
However, this will depend on increased agriculture and mining output but these in turn need stable international commodity prices, stable exchange rates and climatic conditions, the report says.
The report attributes the growth to the recovery of the economy from the financial and economic crisis which saw the country record 6.6 percent gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010 after posting 6.4 percent in 2009.
The report says the agricultural sector is performing well and that growth for 2011 and 2012 is projected at 3.2 percent and 4.6 percent respectively.
Although average growth in the agricultural sector is expected to reduce to about 1.2 percent for 2011-2013, the provision of farming inputs and expected stable exchange rates and commodity prices will sustain positive growth in the sector.
In 2010, Zambia recorded its largest ever maize harvest of about 2.8 million tonnes, compared with 1.9 million tonnes in the previous season.
Major staple food crops such as maize, sorghum, rice, groundnuts, Irish potatoes, mixed beans, sweet potatoes and cassava contributed to higher production in 2010.
On the mining sector, the report says the sector has recovered from the crisis and is expected to show 7.4 percent growth for 2010 and that production in the sector is expected to be 7.5 and 8.5 percent higher in 2011 and next year, respectively.
Copper production was projected to increase to 740,000 tonnes in 2010, a level not seen since 1973 and up 8.0 percent from the 696,900 tonnes in 2009.
It says the growth in the sector benefited mainly from improved copper prices and the business environment in the economy.
Much of the growth is expected to come from Konkola Copper Mines and Lumwana Mines, as well as the resumption of production at Luanshya and Bwana Mkubwa mines which were closed during the financial crisis.
The report states that Government used tax and expenditure measures to save jobs in mining and related production sectors.
About 8,500 jobs were still lost during the crisis but with these measures, about 1,500 jobs were regained in 2009 in mining and other sectors and more people are being re-employed.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
I really detest these senseless projections. More like mandevu residents who have geysers without running water.
learn some basic economics, helps understand where your country is going
No 1 its because you do not understand them….. thats why you think the are senseless. The whole world uses them…. its requires a bit of education to understand them not GRADE &
No 1 its because you do not understand them….. thats why you think the are senseless. The whole world uses them…. its requires a bit of education to understand them not GRADE 7.
Go to school you will understand them…
Not far off those of our neighbours down south-Zim.
What kind of manufacturing industries has Zambia gained that this report is bullish about? I may be wrong, didn’t the Chinese turn Mulungushi Textile into a Chicken coop? Is the production of Copper Cathodes considered a Manufacturing Industry? Trust me, if Copper prices were to tank tomorrow, Zambia will be in the same situation it was in not too long ago. Very soon the Commodity Hungry China will have its fill Copper prices will dip once again. And yet our govt doesn’t seem to be planning for such an eventuality.
I truly hope these numbers are real and not just pulled out of a hat!!!
#2
I think you need to be MMD cadre to understand these campaign figures. For example, how does fuel ( they are calling it gas here, I’m not sure why), an imported comodity whose cost is ever increasing contribute to the economical growth? may be its because I’m not an economist, but honestly this doesnt make any sense to me!
No 6 You are right the fact that your not an economist… this will not make sense to you.. The problem is you Zambian have become TOO political. The rest of the world sees the positive economic development in Zambia. I lived in Zambia in 1991 when we used to line up for sugar, soap and bread. You had to go to KMB and line up for 4 hours to get a bus to Lusaka which took 10 hours to arrive in Lusaka. Today you can go to Lusaka and come back the same day.
Like the English say ” If you have never tasted butter you will never know its sweet”
#7
thats some good history, thanks. now can u answer my query (since u sound more of an economist than I’m), how is high cost imported fuel contributg to the economical growth of the coubtry? (“The rest of the world sees the positive economic development in Zambia” just by looking at campaign figures like these here, which are prepared by politicians).
Zambia’s total Gross Domestic Product is at around $16billion, translating into income of about $1500 per person per year. At 7% growth, the economy will be around $32b in 10 years and $64b in 20years – middle income vision RB talks about always. If population is 20m 20 years from now, zambians would earn $3000 on average, this is simplistic! There is still informal economic activity not accounted for, more growth would hopefully translate into more activity especially in the infomal sector. I just say 10 years ago there were no traffic jams in Lusaka, many people can afford those second hand cars on the roads. Surely something is happening! these numbers just reflect that
Anti-Politics, you are probably just bitter. You are not telling me Lusaka looks like what it was in 1991? There is development going on everywhere in Zambia. You do not have to look at this from an economist’s point of view. GDP and all that. look at the statistics. Bags of maize produced in 2010 relative to, say, 1991. Cars on the road, granted they are recycled in the main. Copper production. Construction activity in lusaka including shopping malls. Number of new business opening up from banks to factories.
I totally fail to understand where you are coming from. And by the way, are you unemployable? Just trying to understand you.
I think the issue with the usual pf kaponyas like the dubious princess at #1 is the fact that they do not want Banda to be president simply because he is not Bemba like them. If the country was growing as it currently is and was headed by a Bemba president they would be the first ones to shout the loudest about the progress the country is making. To say Zambia has not changed positively within the last ten years that Sata has not been in govt is simply ridiculous and irrational but then again so is tribalism.
I get all you economists but I am a practical person. Unless I see proper health care, Education, sanitation and unemployment rates of below 15% then I will say that Zambia has developed. Otherwise Malls, cars, and stocked supermarkets are just esthetics to me.
#10
I actually have a very good job back home, as a matter of fact, RB’s government is paying thousands of Dollars every quater for my second degree. so i’m (probably) more confortable and employable than you. But my heart bleeds when i see millions of people walloping in poverty while politicians are busy putting hypothetical figures of economical growth.
I also find your political economics to be very naive. for example, what does the apearance of (the so called) lusaka city have with the economical growth? And how do u compare the haervests of 1991 (when the population was less than 6million) to that of today when the pop. has increased by more than half? An indian sets up a shoping mall in lusaka, and u call that economical growth?
good news , although gdp won’t put food on the table , at the least it tells us people are making money in the country even the though the distribution of wealth is likely to be uneven and it’s important that agriculture and the manufacturing industry are growing @ 12 ….some one needs to work in those malls ,service those vehicles etc. = jobs = money to pay for medicine
ADMITTEDLY, ZAMBIA IS MAKING POSITIVE STRIDES….AT A TIME WHEN COUNTRIES LIKE GREECE, SPAIN AND IRELAND ARE IN TROUBLE. HOWEVER, I HAVE AN INNATE FEELING THAT SOME OF OUR GAINS COULD SOON BE NEGATED. AN EXAMPLE IS LUMWANA MINE. THEY HAVE JUST APPOINTED Mr GUY CODRINGTON WHO IS A RENOWNED RACIST. HIS TRACK RECORD IN INDONESIA AND VIETNAM IS ABYSMAL…..AT BOTH LOCATIONS, HE TREATED THE LOCAL WORKERS LIKE DOGS….A SHAME REALLY. IT MAKES ME WONDER, WHAT SCREENING WAS DONE?????