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Molenaar advises Govt over global financial crisis

Molenaar advises Govt over global financial crisis
Written by Florence Bupe
Friday, December 19, 2008 12:43:01 PM

NETHERLANDS Ambassador to Zambia, Harry Molenaar has said the government has a responsibility to regulate the market in order to mitigate possible adverse effects of the global financial crisis.

In an interview, Ambassador Molenaar said the state should give certain guarantees both to international and local investors as a way of protecting the economy against collapse.

“The global financial crisis is keeping all of us busy, including the developed economies. Every country, including Zambia, has been affected, and it is the responsibility of the state to regulate the financial markets to protect the economy from being further affected. There should be checks and balances in the market trends,” he said.

He said the current problems in the financial and other economic sectors were as a result of the failure by the state to regulate the market.

Ambassador Molenaar also advised that the country should develop more value-added productive sectors and reduce dependence on copper exports for economic growth.

He said most developing countries faced problems exporting their produce to the developed world at economic prices due to lack of value addition to products.

“The problem with most developing countries is that they produce too many raw materials without adding much value to these products. For instance, Zambia depends largely on copper exports to grow the economy, and now that copper prices have fallen, there is a problem. Added value must be effected in other sectors than mining as a means of promoting diversity in the economy,” he said.

And presenting his credentials to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) earlier, Ambassador Molenaar pledged his country’s commitment to supporting regional groupings through financial and technical support.

Netherlands is financing some COMESA projects through the European Union (EU).

Ambassador Molenaar observed that regional groupings were vital in economic development through enhanced integration.

And COMESA secretary general Sindiso Ngwenya said the low inflow of the dollar on the financial markets had negatively affected international trade transactions.

Labels: GREAT DEPRESSION II

posted by MrK @ 12:42 PM