By Daily Revelation Editor
It’s too early to celebrate the recent Kwacha surge against the United States Dollar and other major convertible currencies especially that the Kwacha has been in consistent auto pilot decline since around October 2022, with a few appreciations here and there which unfortunately have been short-lived.
We hope this recent appreciation won’t be another short-lived one as the signs are already showing. If the recent appreciation was backed up by what we may call sound appreciation we would have seen the Kwacha appreciate further than the levels it showed just over a week ago, but it appreciated and remained stuck at some level before noticing some minor depreciations start to creep in again.
This is the more reason why we are urging caution on the recent appreciation as it will be folly to go all out in celebration. Economist Yusuf Dodia indicated in a recent interview with us that if people want to prove that the appreciation was genuine, they should give it another 25 days, and if the currency maintains the same level or appreciates further then this is being driven by sound factors. Of course any appreciation that comes about because of the intervention from the Bank of Zambia pumping in foreign currency into circulation to stem the slide cannot be said to be sound as it is not driven by factors such as the exchange of goods and services.
It is the prayer of every Zambian for the local currency to see some sustained reprieve owing to the devastation a weak currency has wrought on the economy with Zambians seeing inflationary pressures rising, manifested in the very high cost of living as goods and services in the economy keep on rising. Who would have imagined for instance that people would be buying a loaf of bread at K20 for instance during just this short space of time when the same was going for only K12? Nowadays, when one enters a grocery store with a K100, they will only be able to buy one or two simple items, before they know it all the money they had is finished. Some even begin to blame themselves for being wasteful, not realising that the effects of inflation have actually hit their pockets hard. The highest Kwacha note cannot actually afford to buy a 10kg bag of staple food mealie-meal. And to buy 25 kg, one actually needs four K100s. It’s such a sorry state we are in.
Hoping against all expectations that the Kwacha will hold, we are sure that will minimise excuses in terms of why the price of petrol should still remain this high at K34.19 against the United States Dollar.
To bring this to realisation requires serious strategising on the part of our officials in government as such things do not come about through wishful thinking. Strategic thinking combined with patriotism is what this country needs from its leaders above everything else. Patriots don’t think in terms of what is in it for me but in terms of how one could expend their energies for the greater good. We have tools in this country that could easily ensure sustained foreign exchange on the market adequate enough to pop up the Kwacha, and the major tool in this case is getting a fair share from our mining industry.
Even in seeking increased investment in the mining industry, awarding them a royalty of three percent is not how you go about it. You don’t win investment by giving away almost everything from a very key sector upon which your country survives. Even at the previous six percent royalty the investors were still going to come, even at a rate higher than the previous six percent threshold.
One of the major reasons why the country can’t fully benefit from the mines is because of self-benefit from politicians in ruling parties. You see these mines spend a lot on supporting these political parties during elections, with the promise that they would be given tax holidays and other incentives if the party they support assumes office.
Related
By Daily Revelation Editor
It’s too early to celebrate the recent Kwacha surge against the United States Dollar and other major convertible currencies especially that the Kwacha has been in consistent auto pilot decline since around October 2022, with a few appreciations here and there which unfortunately have been short-lived.
We hope this recent appreciation won’t be another short-lived one as the signs are already showing. If the recent appreciation was backed up by what we may call sound appreciation we would have seen the Kwacha appreciate further than the levels it showed just over a week ago, but it appreciated and remained stuck at some level before noticing some minor depreciations start to creep in again.
This is the more reason why we are urging caution on the recent appreciation as it will be folly to go all out in celebration. Economist Yusuf Dodia indicated in a recent interview with us that if people want to prove that the appreciation was genuine, they should give it another 25 days, and if the currency maintains the same level or appreciates further then this is being driven by sound factors. Of course any appreciation that comes about because of the intervention from the Bank of Zambia pumping in foreign currency into circulation to stem the slide cannot be said to be sound as it is not driven by factors such as the exchange of goods and services.
It is the prayer of every Zambian for the local currency to see some sustained reprieve owing to the devastation a weak currency has wrought on the economy with Zambians seeing inflationary pressures rising, manifested in the very high cost of living as goods and services in the economy keep on rising. Who would have imagined for instance that people would be buying a loaf of bread at K20 for instance during just this short space of time when the same was going for only K12? Nowadays, when one enters a grocery store with a K100, they will only be able to buy one or two simple items, before they know it all the money they had is finished. Some even begin to blame themselves for being wasteful, not realising that the effects of inflation have actually hit their pockets hard. The highest Kwacha note cannot actually afford to buy a 10kg bag of staple food mealie-meal. And to buy 25 kg, one actually needs four K100s. It’s such a sorry state we are in.
Hoping against all expectations that the Kwacha will hold, we are sure that will minimise excuses in terms of why the price of petrol should still remain this high at K34.19 against the United States Dollar.
To bring this to realisation requires serious strategising on the part of our officials in government as such things do not come about through wishful thinking. Strategic thinking combined with patriotism is what this country needs from its leaders above everything else. Patriots don’t think in terms of what is in it for me but in terms of how one could expend their energies for the greater good. We have tools in this country that could easily ensure sustained foreign exchange on the market adequate enough to pop up the Kwacha, and the major tool in this case is getting a fair share from our mining industry.
Even in seeking increased investment in the mining industry, awarding them a royalty of three percent is not how you go about it. You don’t win investment by giving away almost everything from a very key sector upon which your country survives. Even at the previous six percent royalty the investors were still going to come, even at a rate higher than the previous six percent threshold.
One of the major reasons why the country can’t fully benefit from the mines is because of self-benefit from politicians in ruling parties. You see these mines spend a lot on supporting these political parties during elections, with the promise that they would be given tax holidays and other incentives if the party they support assumes office.
Related
You can share this post!
Mambo questions govt investigations against Livestock Co-operative Society Limited
Defamed people calling to sue Hamasaka over Watchdog – Saboi
Related Articles
Matambo and alleged bribery by some Mopani officials
Public tenders and ruling parties
Is your life better today than it was…