KWACHA STABILITY IS POLITICAL MANIPULATION AHEAD OF AUGUST POLLS – PF MP
By: Thomas Afroman Mwale
Patriotic Front Feira Member of Parliament Emmanuel Tembo has described the recent appreciation of the Kwacha against major convertible currencies as political manipulation, alleging that the government has offloaded more United States dollars onto the market to control volatility of the local currency.
Mr. Tembo claimed that the Kwacha’s appreciation is linked to the upcoming general elections, questioning why load shedding appears to have ended and currency stability has been achieved barely five months before the polls.
Speaking when he featured on Millennium TV’s Pulse Nation, the lawmaker predicted that Zambians will be shocked immediately after the August 13 general elections, alleging that the Kwacha could depreciate to as high as K30 to one US dollar, with load shedding resuming.
He described the trend as an old style of politics, which he said only brings temporary improvements in the state of affairs in the months leading to elections.
His comments follow Thursday, 5th February exchange rate figures, which showed the Kwacha trading at K18.41 ngwee to one United States dollar on the buying side and K18.78 ngwee on the selling side.
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Lol
Why didnt the PF try this trick in 2021 🙂
The goodness is August is a bit of a stretch, if the ruling party are manipulating the currency, it will depreciate again by then, there is not enough dollars lying around to sustain ‘managed’ currency appreciation
People should learn to appreciate and positively acknowledge the efforts of political competitors. This is the same gang of thieves who plundered the national treasury and borrowed recklessly with no concern about the consequences of defaulting on sovereign loans.
They have been cursed to wander in the political wilderness, not knowing which direction to come or go to.
This MP is using his mouth to think and speaking through his brains!
From Lubinda now to the Kwacha. Sir, have you accepted your expulsion or you are still waiting for Lubinda’s scope examination? Why are you accusing UPND of doing things that you could not do in PF? Is it not you who needs scope checkup? If you had dollars, why couldn’t you intervene because under PF, the Kwacha reached 28/dollar but munali ndwii. These are the differences that Zambians are seeing, PF’s priorities were on reckless borrowing and stealing while under UPND, they are on development with stabilized economy and job creation. Dead Mines have been resurrected, new ones opened and the tonnage of Copper production has gone up with Coper and Cobalt prices at their record high. The wars also are now calming down, Israeli-Gaza war, Russia-Ukraine war, National Army-RDF war in Sudan resulting into stable oil prices on the International market. Pump prices in Zambia are also going down. Don’t also forget we have very hardworking visionary leader with strong fiscal discipline therefore attracting direct investment in the country at the same time, winning the confidence of the existing investors and attracting more or investors. Zambia is now one of the Global investment destinations in Africa. No wonder we are seeing HH being equated with World’s best performing presidents, it’s not a joke, it’s real. Of late, you have also seen the visitors we have hosted in Zambia, America, Europe, China etc, have all come here. Do you think they can waste their time and travel for nothing? No, they have seen something. By the way are you aware that 15% of China’s mining tax is now paid in Chinese Yuan? I won’t talk about Lobito Corridor and the revamping of TAZARA because time and space can’t allow me.
So with such an environment, what can stop the Kwacha or indeed any currency to appreciate and flourish? These are simple Economic Fundamentals which you need to know. If things continue as they are, ba Honorable, I can assure you that even after August elections, the Kwacha will even appreciate farther even as low as 15 or below per dollar, it’s simply unstoppable. That’s why Zambians are now itching to give Bally another five year mandate in August elections. The gentleman has done a lot and he still has a lot to do for Zambia.