COMMENT - " copper was not a reliable economic driver " - it is for the mining companies who this government allows to keep all the profits, without paying taxes.
Zambia has failed to diversify its economy, says Prof Ndulo
Written by Florence Bupe
Thursday, July 23, 2009 4:19:02 PM
UNIVERSITY of Zambia (UNZA) head of the department of economics Professor Manenga Ndulo has observed that Zambia has failed to diversify its economy as the agriculture sector remains stagnated.
Making a presentation on the global economic crisis and its impact on the Zambian economy at Hotel InterContinental in Lusaka, Prof Ndulo said the country had failed to move away from its dependence on copper as an economic driver.
“Zambia has failed to adjust from copper dependence, this country has a stagnated and unstable agricultural sector, which should be the next income earner from the mining sector,” Prof Ndulo said. “Policy makers have failed to make the (agricultural) sector tick.”
Prof Ndulo said Zambia was a poor country and would remain so for as long as its potential was unexploited. He observed that the country had continued to be uncompetitive internationally because of the high production and service costs.
“Zambia has a high cost and inefficient service sector. It is basically a poor country which has potential, but potential is not wealth. You have to turn that potential into wealth to survive,” he said.
Prof Ndulo said copper was not a reliable economic driver considering its price fluctuations on the international market. He advised the country to look to other sectors for increased revenue through exports.
Prof Ndulo also suggested that the mining industry should be made to contribute more meaningfully to the national budget. And Prof Ndulo has advised government to put in place policies that would facilitate increased economic growth in the next few years.
He said for Zambia to register any meaningful growth, it needed to have a growth rate of not less than seven per cent per annum.
Labels: MANENGO NDULO
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‘Zambia lacks class of economic technocrats’
Written by Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Saturday, November 15, 2008 4:50:33 AM
ZAMBIA lacks a class of technocrats to discuss the implementation and meaningful domestication of good economic policies, University of Zambia (UNZA) head of economics Professor Manengo Ndulo has observed.
Prof Ndulo said owing to lack of opinion makers who could debate and spearhead the execution of good economic policies, the country was lagging behind in implementing and domesticating good economic treaties that the country sometimes signs.
In an interview, Prof Ndulo proposed that a group of technocrats need to work with the civil society and other interest groups specifically to look at spearheading the economic policies and direction of the country.
Prof Ndulo also observed that although most of the existing civil society organisations were currently engaged in implementation of policies and programmes for the country, most of them had a strong inclination towards politics at the expense of economic issues.
“In Zambia, we clearly lack opinion leaders who can meet in terms of promoting good ideas and not bad ideas. Good ideas can be very popular and can dominate but they won’t get you anywhere,” Prof Ndulo explained. “But that can only be something which would come from a group of technocrats within society which cannot only promote those ideas but also transform those ideas in terms of implementation.”
He observed that the political inclination of most civil society organisations in Zambia was hurting the country’s ability to foster economic development.
“It is this element of debate and especially in the economic management and policy that we lack…what you could call a class of technocrats and policy makers who can debate and argue policy choices which can be made,” said Prof Ndulo. “The civil society organisations are part of the opinion makers but if you look at what I call opinion makers in Zambia, it is overburdened by political civil societies who are more than where the issues are and these are the economic policy issues.”
Labels: ECONOMY, MANENGO NDULO, UNZA
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Corruption impedes investment in infrastructure, observes Prof Ndulo
Written by Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Wednesday, November 05, 2008 5:52:27 PM
UNIVERSITY of Zambia (UNZA) head of economics Professor Manengo Ndulo has observed that corruption continues to be the biggest impediment to investment in infrastructure in the country. And World Bank Senior economic advisor Robert Zagha said developing countries like Zambia will not be able to reach levels of sustainable growth rate for as long as their growths were fuelled by booms in commodity prices.
Addressing an Economics Association of Zambia (EAZ) organised public discussion titled, “The Growth Strategies for Sustained Growth and Inclusive Development”, Prof Ndulo explained that most of the taxpayers’ money, budgeted for infrastructure development, is
corruptly absorbed through the stages of construction chain.
Professor Ndulo said most people in the country had continued to complain about unequal distribution of income, which was fuelling high poverty levels, because investments in infrastructure were poorly implemented.
He, however, acknowledged that the country has in recent years improved efforts to invest in infrastructure development.
“The levels of investments in infrastructure have not been very successful for many reasons and one of the key reasons are things like corruption,” Prof Ndulo said. “Money which is meant to go into construction of the road or bridge, you find only maybe about 10 per cent goes into the actual construction of the bridge….the rest is shared not by others, even consultants and the people involved pickup the money…so, when we are talking about infrastructure, we are still very far. There is a big effort but we are facing a lot of problems.”
Prof Ndulo also explained that Zambia was still far away from achieving sustainable economic levels as the current economic growth rates which have averaged about five per cent in recent years were still too low.
And Zagha, who is also World Bank’s director for Growth and Development, said although economic diversification was not an easy undertaking, it provided the best remedy for a country to achieve sustainable economic growth rate.
“Diversification of an economy which has commodity exports is not a trivial proposition,” said Zagha. “…it is not an easy task to diversify but unless you are ready to diversify, your growth, in the long run would not be sustainable for political and economic reasons.”
Labels: BOONDOGGLES, EAZ, INFRASTRUCTURE, MANENGO NDULO, ROBERT ZAGHA, World Bank
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