By Mubanga Mubanga
Economic analyst Yusuf Dodia says the decision by the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) to extend the emergency power tariffs by Zesco for another three months will affect industries.
ERB last week extended the emergency power tariffs by Zesco for another three months, from February 1 to April 30, 2025, on grounds the country has continued to struggle with a severe power crisis.
In an interview with Daily Revelation yesterday, Dodia said with the above decision, industries may opt to stop manufacturing and import the same goods they were manufacturing from other countries.
“The question really is that at the end of the day, yes, this higher tariffs means that consumers pay more for electricity. But l think a better issue is how it is going to impact the industry. Because industries are very sensitive to energy prices. All the industries are using transport, using diesel, all the industries are using machinery that uses electricity,” Dodia said. “So when these factors become very expensive, industries may opt to stop manufacturing, and import the same goods they are manufacturing from other countries, and close down their factories.”
Dodia further said load shedding was going to make the country lose industries, making it a trading nation.
He cited Ndola, which he described as a “ghost town” now, because of the collapse of industries which were manufacturing different products.
On the depreciation of the Kwacha, Dodia said the depreciation was because of not having enough inflow of foreign currency in the country.
“It appears that foreign currency flows into the country are not as expected. And when they are not expected, the Kwacha tends to get weaker,” said Dodia. “And this is what we are seeing. The only thing I can attribute the depreciation of the Kwacha to is the lack of foreign exchange in our economy.”
However, Dodia said the Bank of Zambia, had explanations to do regarding the depreciation of the Kwacha, as this was happening despite having in place the Export Proceeds Tracking Framework.
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