Tourism Minister Sylvia Masebo says the statutory instrument restricting the use of US dollars in paying for local products and services is in the best interest of the nation and business community as a whole.
Ms Masebo however says the policy measure has regrettably been misinterpreted by some investors in the tourism sector due to misinformation and lack of awareness.
Ms Masebo says government has a duty to protect the interests of the citizens and investors.
Ms Masebo is assuring the investors that the PF government will continue to provide incentives and an enabling environment for enhanced investments.
The Minister was speaking when she addressed lodge owners and tour operators in Mfuwe.
She also says the revised minimum wage is meant to enable non unionized workers to earn a living wage.
But speaking on behalf of investors, Dave Wilson said the minimum wage and the statutory instrument number 33 are making operations difficult for their business returns, and revenue is declining.
Follow Mwanawasa’s ban in 2003 on dollar ….not only is this in the interest of the nation but the economy. The intention is great, do more…..
“The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is-THE TRUTH.”, “Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.”
Viva PF! You have my vote in 2016.
this is all good and well but when will your government exercise eminent domain over the mining companies that pillage the Copperbelt region, raping the land and subverting the indigenous people to menial and extremely dangerous labor condi
tions while the country and its government receive only a paltry sum for every milligram of precious ore and mineral removed from your own soil. It is time to call in the leases on these foreign interests and increase their rent 1000 fold or take over their operations yourselves and reap ALL the benefits for your own people, government and nation.
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A KWACHA BEING USED IN THE UK OR US OF A? ONE OF THE GREATEST GRZ MOVES- DOLLAR BAN.
Look on the foreign exchange trading market, it is the euro, pound, yen, dollar that are mainly traded. You twit, shut up for once and go back to school and learn.
IGNORANCE may be our best BED-FRIEND, BUT IT IS ALSO OUR WORST ENEMY!!!!
Most of the world trades in US Dollars; COUNTRIES HOLD THEIR RESERVES IN THE SAME CURRENCY including Zambia – EVEN CHINA, uses US Dollars & holds its reserves in USD. The cost of doing business is so much cheaper in US Dollars!
PATRIOTISM & PRIDE are indeed important, however when it comes down to SENSE & REALITY, we need to be PRAGMATIC! No one has needed to go to Havard Economic School to appreciate the turn of investment in Zed over the past few years! ONLY A FEW PEOPLE WITH LONG FINGERS IN BUREAU DE CHANGE ARE BOUND TO MAKE MONEY! Save us from the outdated crap of more money in our pockets, coz we already have had millions & billions of “kwacha” in our pockets!! So pulling wool over our eyes won’t work!
The RE-BASING of the Kwacha has also been a step in the wrong direction, AS WE ARE NOW SPENDING SO MUCH IN THIS EXERCISE, WHICH WON’T CREATE ANY Zed Jobs, BUT RESULT IN Zed EXTERNALISING HUGE AMOUNTS OF OUR FOREIGN RESERVES, just in order for a few INDIVIDUALS to be caught out with the stashes of Kwacha that they have buried!!!
A stronger Kw doesn’t attract investment in OTHER SECTORS OF THE ECONOMY, rather the opposite! We may seem to earn more from Copper then, BUT WHAT WE ARE RUNNING AWAY FROM, IS SIMPLY GETTING OUR WORTHWHILE RETURNS FROM COPPER through various Tax instruments!!! We will remain a mono-economy for as long as we don’t promote other sectors – for it is NOT WORTH INVESTING IN THEM, BUT COPPER ONLY!!
We NEED FRESH BRAINS TO RUN THIS ECONOMY!!
So again she came with pregnancy from Mfuwe, that Masebo alitemwa ubuchende much more than ugly Dora.
I hate the way PF is running country affairs in many areas. But on this one I support them 100%. These tour operators are crying because they have been collectin USA cash without paying tax. Let the ban remain.
Look at the way the kwacha has been jumping around. Forcing the nation to trade in kwacha increases the uncertainty of business. Since imports still have to be paid for in forex (and exports sold for forex) this policy is effectively taking money out of our pockets and putting it in the pockets of rich bankers who are already loving all the extra commissions on foreign exchange transactions. If a buyer and seller wish to transact in dollars, rand, pounds, francs, or whatever there is no reason to prevent them from doing so. What of barter, is that now illegal too? Government’s job is to make doing business easy, not difficult.
BA kamwendo @5n6 Trading a currency on the stock market and using Us$ to purchase imports is completely different from using the US$ as a local currency. Countries need a local currency because Gov can virtual print money by devaluing its currency thus stimulating exports and invisible exports like tourism etc. Using US$ means your local Gov has no control whatsoever over the Finance sector. which translates to very little control over inflation….etc
Banning of dollar is not an issue here, people are just misinformed about it, if you want to go abroad just buy dollar from the bank and go but if you are selling any goods or and services then don’t quote in dollar period. I think that is what GRZ said about this dollar issue.
However some bitter politicians wants this issue to be politicized and be trivialized at the same time so that they can gain mileage.
Ba Kamwendo, there is a difference between paying (on daily basis) for a guest room in a hotel or buying a suit in a boutique in US dollars and holding of national reserves. THE OTHER TERM FOR NATIONAL RESERVES IS IMPORT COVER. Meaning, if we ran into a national crisis, we would use these dollars to import critical supplies for the nation. That is understood but it does not mean we abandon our legal tender! Tell us abou the Yen.
Every nation has the aforesaid foreign reserves. But we have to transact in the Kwacha as our legal tender. Otherwise you are telling us that we should abandon the kwacha and become like Zimbabwe. But for what reason? None whatsoever! Learn to differentiate issues. Those reserves do not come from simple individual traders as such, they are a result of a sustained export industries which are taxed by government, like the mines and others like sugar and cement. Be proud of your country people.
Its the RE-BASING of the Kwach that is a step in the wrong direction, those who I have done economic history will agree with me that it has never worked, Europe tried it, failed, Argentina in their crisis tried the same with the same result,failure, we need not go far DRC and Zimbabwe are good examples, almost overnight the currencies still crushed to even woser levels.
The problem with Zambia is boosting real economic activities and let these drive the economic variables. It has worked good for nations like China and India, it is the only way it will work for us.
Kwacha first whether they like it or not. The effects will take effect soon. It will be normal and the doubting Thomases like it later once they get used. Bureau de change can be there, black market can be there, but all with the common knowledge and practice that kwacha is our national legal, official, national, first and our best transactional basis. Image problem for some, they only believe other people are beautiful whilst yhey are ever ugly. No self belief. Trust yours selves in good times and in bad ones. Just work hard and prop up the kwacha. why is pula and rand better than kwacha? Plenty of copper and what have you, kwacha can be stronger indeed. just trust that, believe in yourselves!
The real issue is boosting economic activity, I still say you can have kwacha as the only currency but with no real tangible eco-activity its doomed for failure. What is needed is boosting the industrial base, Rand and Pula are stronger because in these countries they have strong manufacturing bases. They add value to their raw materials. But in our beloved country the main problems are that the cost of doing business is extremely high(ie Fuel, Communications~telephony and internet, interest rates, access to financing). If we can reduce this cost it can booster a rise in manufacturing based industries. There is need to promote SMEs( this is what reduces poverty), give them incentives as well and good provision for access to financing then we can see our economy rise again.
This is a good issue! I thank you all for helping us understand the economic aspect of it. If all bloggers were to write like this, our minds would have gained a lot. you see, here few fake politicians managed to comment because the stuff is tough you don’t just talk wobbly. Thank you guys, hat off
The only gazetted legal tender in any nation is that country’s currency.Your currency is bought first to trade in that country.Except euro zone ,you cant use foriegn currency.
madam masebo please can u open a zoo in lusaka and cage the following ugly pipo that we have in zambia for bazungu to see, iam sure they would pay alot: Kambwili, Sakeni, Sondashi, Nkandu luo,mbesuma,shamenda to mention but a few
Persons claim that there needs to be a set excessive-hindfoot boots and shoes within a lady’s clothing collection
We shall have ourselves to blame for failiong to addiing value to and in anything that we endeavor to do.
If what we choose to do or say somethingh that latter affects us our our future we have this generation and our selves to bnlame.
God with us.we are are overcoming.
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