Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Former Finance Minister Katele Kalumba says it is an expression of generosity to describe the current status of Zambia’s economy as being stable.
Dr. Kalumba says his sense is that the economy is not anywhere near where it can be said to be stable and therefore the country should not be too comfortable with short term readings of the economy.
He has told Qfm News in an interview that his analysis of the country’s economy is based on the fact that no stringent measures have been put in place to ensure fiscal discipline in a way that public expenditure is in line with revenue.
Dr. Kalumba says Za
mbia is still in the scenario of excessive expenditure besides the Kwacha not recording any significant pick up from its recent free fall.
He says this means that the Ministry of Finance has a lot of work to do which is the more reason he has been persistent in advising the Patriotic Front (PF) government to adopt the consultative approach which the late President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa used to engage in with the business community to help indentify key sectors that can drive the economy further.
The Former Finance Minister notes that it is also important to read the context in which the economy is performing especially in the light of the changing of the regional political environment in the last few days following the escalation of xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
He says such a change in the Southern Africa region’s political environment is likely to cause instability in the trade and travel sectors of the region.
Dr. Kalumba states that Zambia cannot discount such developments because they too have what he has referred to as butterfly effects in the economies of the Southern African region despite xenophobia only happening in South Africa.