Skip to main content

2012

Happy new year! Not much changed from the last.. Arsenal got beaten again. I guess you get used to it to a point you no longer feel the pinch. We were spoilt in the past to expect excellence at all times. We are slowly becoming a mid table team at this rate. I worry that if we fail to make Champions league this season we can become like liverpool or worse Tottenham.. At least the Africa Nations cup is there to distract us.

This year is expected to be the last year of man's existence (if you follow the doomsayers) so maybe that is the thought behind Zambia removing three zeros from their currency that if it doesn't work- who cares. Take it from someone who actually participated in currency revaluation, it is an exercise in futility which has very few benefits except the pride at saying our currency has near value to the more established currencies. I believe that this revaluation will just push inflation on. The cost of a revaluation far exceeds its benefits.

I believe Zambia needs to work on more pressing matters such as diversifying away from extractive industries into productive industries such as food processing and manufacturing. the growth of the economy of the last 10 years shows to me at least that the economy has the ability and capacity to attempt this. The policy of revaluation of the currency, to me, is a misplaced priority. Essentially the policy is putting much needed resources into something that has a nil result on the real economy. No-one has adequately explained this policy.

The government needs to spend resources on opening up areas of the country up to economic exploitation so the cities can be de-congested and employment found elsewhere. Ideas to attain this is the creation of growth points where incentives are offered by government for businesses to open up. in this policy, work can be created in agriculture and such areas by creating new farm blocks. I believe that it is criminal for a nation to be blessed with such resources as Zambia and not exploit them. Please look beyond these conventional policy interventions and look at sustainable development options.

Just my thought

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Civil Service Reform

Let me begin with this. I am not against civil service. There are many examples of excellence by civil servants working hard for the country. In many cases these civil servants work for little pay and are often not recognized for the work they do. All too often the guys excelling in very difficult circumstances are overlooked for political and/or personal reasons. However, lets be real, these guys are in the minority. At least over the last 8 years. I begin looking at civil service reform because of the size and effects on the economy. Depending on which source you believe Zimbabwe's GDP sits at between $7.3 billion to $14 billion. So if that is the case the amount of money consumed by government is anything from 30%-50% of GDP. Such a statistic is very worrying. Let me put it in a simpler understanding. If you make a dollar, government will consume between 30 to 50% of that. This does not encourage enterprise nor does it encourage investment. This is what government should...
Post a Comment
Read more

New year

I hardly have treated this blog well as I have not been very consistent. I will attempt to do so now. This year's struggle for me is to get purchase my first accommodation. This is a difficult feat all over the world, but this is made doubly so in Africa with lack of credit, or should I say affordable long term credit. Don't get me wrong, I thank God everyday for being African and being blessed in some of the most difficult economies in the world. However, I think we as Africans need to have a true debate over what economic dispensation we want. I went to my bank the other day after feeling a little confident about my financial position (both my wife and I finally have a little left over every month after bills), and asked my banker for a loan to begin my quest to purchase a flat in Harare. The banker looked at me and indicated this was not possible to secure a property in Zim with a loan in Zambia (being an expatriate in Zambia) and I would have to bear ridiculously high inter...
Post a Comment
Read more

weakening of the economies in SADC

Hi out there. I have been a little predisposed to trying to force my little business survive in what is an increasingly hostile business environment. The hostility has largely been driven by weakening economies across the SADC region. it is estimated that a number of economies will produce less than impressive GDP results this year. Zimbabwe will probably do the worst with our GDP expected to end the year at 29 billion from 31 billion in 2018 (* source Tradingeconomics.com). Looking at the indicators across the region, all is not well. In Zimbabwe what is obvious is the ones who are running the show have returned to money printing which is running at odds with the tight fiscal policy that has been alluded to by our minister of finance in his transitional stabilization programme. In actual fact the resolve of the government has been found wanting as they have seen overtures rebuffed in their diplomatic engagement drive. The leadership in Zimbabwe has largely spurned the goo...
Post a Comment
Read more