DEBATING 2024 BUDGET WITH MR. SEAN TEMBO- PART ONE
By Alexander Nkosi
MR. SEAN TEMBO: Government intends to borrow K33 billion to finance the 2023 National Budget and yet tax holidays to the mines are expected to cost the treasury $2.4 billion (K48 billion).
ALEXANDER NKOSI: Making mineral royalties tax deductible resulted into a projected revenue loss of K3.2 billion. Note that the loss is actually lower as both copper prices and production have gone down. The USD2.4 billion (K48 billion) figure from Mr. Sean Tembo is not correct. He should have looked at basic facts. In 2021 when both copper production and prices were high, Zambia collected a total of K25.1 billion from mining Company Income tax and mineral royalty tax before mineral royalties were made tax deductible. How can we lose K48 billion in years when both production and prices are lower? This is the same as having 5 litres of water in a container which is leaking, and you claim that because your container is leaking you have lost 10 litres of water out of the 5 litres you had.
The K33 billion Government intends to borrow in 2024 is 19% of the budget and represents a huge decrease in borrowing compared to the past years.