MUCHELEKA UPBEAT ABOUT ZAMBIA’S ECONOMIC GROWTH
November 28th, 2024
LUSAKA – Permanent Secretary for Special Duties at Cabinet Office, Patrick Mucheleka says the numerous interventions to resuscitate the Zambian economy by the New Dawn administration admist Climate Change and Global Warming was a step in the right direction.
Mr. Mucheleka says despite the financial and economic huddles faced by the global community,it was elating that President Hakainde Hichilema had not relented in his economic recovery efforts.
Speaking on the Thursday Edition of the Burning Issue on 5Fm radio, the Permanent Secretary said the decision by President Hichilema to increase the number of households through social protection programmes such as the Social Cash Transfer from a paltry 600,000 to 1.3 million this year had greatly helped reduce the burden of the drought on the poorest of the poor in Zambia.
He said the fact that Zambia’s economy has been experiencing a steady, upward economic growth from negative 3 in 2021 to slightly above positive 3 percent in the first half of 2024 and a projected 6.5% growth rate in a 2025 was a starting point for a prosperous Zambian populace.
He said human and social development, good governance, economic transformation and job creation as spelt out in the 8th National Development Plan (8NDP) (2022-2026), which he said had resulted in the increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) had enabled Zambia to attract about US$15 billion in mining investment.
Dispelling as inuendos and aspersions by the former ruling party, the PF that the current wave of investment in the mining sector, particularly in the Northwestern Province was meant at enriching investors, Mucheleka said the massive capital outlay has enabled joint shareholding that would enable a win-win situation between Zambians and foreign investors.
He said it was disheartening to note that the opposition had continued to work on the path of mere politicking and cheap rhetoric, charging that the fact that Mopani share holding had been raised from the previous 10% to 49% meant that more money would remained in the Zambian coffers.
He said the 3 million metric tonnes of copper production by the year 2031 as set forth by President Hichilema’s economic transformation agenda would not only lead to good quality jobs for the broader Zambian populace, but also one that would have a ripple effect on the Kwacha’s exchange rate against major convertible currencies.
(C) THE FALCON