Monday, September 24, 2007

Current economic growth not tangible - Dr Chigunta

Current economic growth not tangible - Dr Chigunta
By Kabanda Chulu
Monday September 24, 2007 [04:00]

Dr Chigunta said there was mass poverty in the country but the government has not put in place mitigation measures. He said the Zambian government should aim at attaining a gross domestic product (GDP) of more than 10 per cent.

“It is true that various sectors of the economy are showing signs of growth but this is not tangible and since we are struggling to attain six per cent of GDP, these current growth rates will not help us to attain the MDGs especially that of reducing poverty by half,” Dr Chigunta said. “And also there is need for the government to develop sustainable measures that will help translate economic growth into ways of reducing the mass poverty currently prevailing in the country.”

He also said Zambia would continue being a poor country since the culture of entrepreneurship was very low.

“We are not aggressive enough to transform our ideas into something useful and there has been no structural transformation in the way we do things. We are just relaxed and happy to have raw materials for export instead of adding value to those items and this is why intended benefits of international trade will continue bypassing us,” said Dr Chigunta.

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