Republican President Hakainde Hichilema
Fellow citizens,
Today we were honoured and delighted today, to have opened and addressed the Second Session of the Thirteenth National Assembly of Zambia, against the backdrop of our First Anniversary as the News Dawn Administration.
In our address to the National Assembly, among many other matters, we noted our Administration’s efforts in prioritising the implementation of the Social – Economic interventions aimed at Stabilising, Repairing and Reviving our economy, for the benefit of our citizens.
The theme of our address was “Working Together Towards Socio – Economic Transformation: Stimulating Economic Growth For Improved Livelihoods”.
We observed that we took over a broken economy where growth had contracted to 2.8% in 2020, from an average of 6% a decade earlier, and a runway inflation rate that had spiked to 22% in 2021, coupled by an exchange rate that had deteriorated to K22 by July of 2021.
We further noted the decimation of our Foreign Exchange Reserves to 1.9 months of import cover, way below the Internationally recommended threshold of three months import cover. Fiscal management was excessively deficient and characterised by poor resource allocation, reckless borrowing resulting in increased cost of debt service and debt default.
In short, we had failed to manage our economy.
Despite this damaging background, we announced to the National Assembly that we had managed to stabilise the economy within one year by putting it on a positive growth trajectory with a projection of an average 4% in the medium term, while stabilising the exchange against major convertible, and making it one of the best performing currencies in the world.
We told the National Assembly that we had built back our Foreign Exchange Reserves to 3.7 of Import Cover as at June 2022, a situation that allows us to absorb any external shocks while giving confidence to investors to invest in Zambia.
We reiterated our core principle to reunite our country by embracing values that promote peace and unity, saluting the good in others, irrespective of their culture, traditions, religion or status in society.
This is our cherished commitment, our noble mission and our narrative. Rising above our challenges in pursuit of a better Zambia for all. Hard work and more hard work will remain the cornerstone and the source of our livelihood in our country, no shortcuts, no stealing, no corruption, no tantameni, no ka sumfing!
Hakainde Hichilema
President of the Republic of Zambia
