By Esther Chisola
Economist Yusuf Dodia has described 2024 as one of the most difficult years which saw the country having two supplementary budgets, among other challenges.
Speaking with Daily Revelation over the weekend, Dodia said everyone experienced the hardship of 2024 which included high cost of doing business among other things.
“Well, 2024 has been a very difficult year, it’s a year where we saw a few prices going up. We saw intense load shedding, we saw inflation rate go up, we saw the Kwacha deteriorate to almost K28 per dollar,” he said. “It’s a year where we had two supplementary budgets because we were not meeting our targets in terms of revenue collections and also having to meet the challenges of the drought which was experienced in 2024.”
He said it was unfortunate that the country would carry with it the 2024 challenges into 2025.
Dodia described 2025 as a pre-general election year to be held in 2026, and it was therefore expected that in 2025, huge sums of money would be spent in areas that would attract support by the Zambian people.
He said this possibility could push the country further into debt.
Dodia urged the government to have the courage to implement an export proceeds tracking framework to help in boosting the country’s economy, to generate wealth, taxes for the government and also empower the Zambian people.
