Agness Changala
Finance minister Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane says government will engage millers over escalating mealie meal prices as citizens have been hit hard by the rise in the mealie meal prices.
During the presentation of the 2024 budget whose theme is, “Unlocking Economic Potential,” the minister said government will come to an understanding with millers for them to reduce the cost of mealie meal through stocks held by the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).
“For millers using the Food Reserve Agency maize, there is no justification whatsoever for their mealie meal to be as high as what we see sometimes. Finally Food Reserve Agency will be releasing stocks of maize for community purchases so that citizens can have a choice of milling their maize using cheap methods like hammer mills,” Dr. Musokotwane said.
In tourism sector, Dr. Musokotwane announced in an increase in the number of tourists following the government’s decision to waive the tourist visa requirements for citizens from selected countries.He said in the first half of 2023, international tourist arrivals increased by 22.0 per cent to 605,650 tourist from 496,456 recorded in the corresponding period.Dr.
Musokotwane said the sector had recovered as evidenced by the increased occupancy rate, increased visits to national parks, waterfalls and heritage sites.
He announced that the government has secured $100 million under the Green Resilient and Transformational Tourism Development Project which resource will help to improve accessibility and diversity of tourism product offerings to attract more tourists and increase length stay.
In the mining sector, Dr. Musokotwane said the production of minerals declined mainly due to operational challenges.
He said this was compounded by flooding and low ore grades at some major mines.The minister said with the resolution of challenges at Mopani and Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) as well as the possible coming of other mines, the mining industry is expected to boost production.
On concerns raised by some sections of society that despite the favorable tax regime given to the mining sector, copper production has reduced, Dr. Musokotwane said the reduction was not related to taxation, but rather to operational challenges at some mines.
He said the change in tax policies that the government made is without doubt working.“It has induced a lot of interest and people are bust doing explorations. On the basis of the information we have, some spectacular announcements of really big mines will be made at an appropriate time,” Dr. Musokotwane said.
