In response to the economic challenges being faced by Zambians, Golden Party of Zambia (GPZ) President Jackson Silavwe has put forth a comprehensive set of short and long-term interventions aimed at revitalizing the local economy and ensuring its benefits reach the citizens.
Mr. Silavwe emphasized that the economic hardships endured by Zambians are exacerbated by a perceived lack of effective intervention measures by the New Dawn administration. To address this, he outlined a series of proposals, categorized into short, medium, and long-term measures.
Short-Term Measures:
- Freeze the upward adjustment of the monetary policy rate (MPR) and the statutory reserve ratio (SRR) for three years.
- Prompt payment of all local domestic suppliers.
- Award large contracts to local Zambian companies.
- Increase taxes on the mining sector.
- Create incentives for local small and medium businesses.
- Facilitate easier financial inflow for foreign investments.
- Strengthen the Zambia National Service (ZNS) to contribute significantly (50%)to national maize production and mealie meal consumption.
- Provide tax, levies, and statutory incentives to local small and medium businesses.
Medium-Term Measures:
- Enhance government revenue generated from the mining sector.
- Declare sugilite, gold, and lithium as state assets through an act of parliament.
- Deposit sugilite and gold in the Bank of Zambia (BOZ) as part of the strategic national reserves.
- Gradually minimize and eliminate tax holidays for foreign companies operating in Zambia.
- Cap the externalization of profits by foreign mining companies.
- Establish a tax haven within Zambia.
Long-Term Measures:
- Directly invest USD $1 billion in 10,000 new high-quality startups.
- Boost national production through industrialization and value addition.
- Enact laws to prohibit the exportation of unprocessed minerals from mining.
- Construct government-owned gold and lithium processing plants.
- Heavy investment in technology and creative sectors.
- Target a substantial reduction in unemployment, from over 8 million job seekers to 2 million, within 10 to 15 years through private sector development.
Mr. Silavwe stressed the urgency of these measures, acknowledging the severe impact of the economic downturn on ordinary citizens and businesses. He called on the New Dawn administration to respond proactively on behalf of the Zambian people, providing essential economic relief. The proposed interventions, if implemented, aim to create a more sustainable and inclusive economy, benefitting the broader population.
Mr Gregg Mills doesn’t agree to these measures, so it’s a waste of time and energy. His institution bankrolled the UPND for 20yrs and that’s not a joke. Just like the Euro bond owners, he also wants his money back. And the only way to recover it is through policies that favour him and his friends.
Economics of children
These Opposition clowns they sound very intelligent whilst in opposition…talk is cheap….HH was a super genius whilst in opposition ….he had all the answers but today his head is empty….Fred Mmembe and Chishala Kateka also yapping nonsense 24/7…this Silavwe clown he just want to be in the news….attention seekers
Atleast he has a plan unlike bashi promise who was lying to you voters yet you fell for him
Same whattsapp group with drunk Bashi Tasila……kikiki
Can HH be sued for lying to voters?
He looks handsome and intelligent but put him in State House he becomes an ugly dull monster.
(a) Most of the “Long-Term Measures” would be acceptable to M’membe’s Socialist Party. (b) What is the difference between Short-Term Measures 5 and 8? (c) Short-Term Measure 6 and Medium-Term Measure 4 are contradictory. (d) Long-Term Measure 3 is not practical because buyers of unprocessed minerals have different uses for the minerals and they process the minerals for their specific purposes.