Zambia’s business performed worse in the fourth quarter of 2018

Zambia’s business performance worsened in the fourth quarter of 2018, the latest business confidence index survey has revealed.

Giving a brief on the business confidence index for the fourth quarter of 2018 during a media  briefing,Zambia Chamber of Commerce and industry president Michael Nyirenda says the poor performance is attributed to the high fuel cost, delayed payments ,stiff competition from foreign companies and fluctuations in the exchange rate.

Mr. Nyirenda says the survey also revealed that the general cost of doing business in the fourth quarter of 2018 also increased.

He states that policy inconsistency also contributed to the poor performance of business.

ZACCI has since recommended that government makes timely payments to suppliers of goods and services to avoid shocking business, further reiterating the need for government to commence the process of reducing corporate tax from 35% to 25% at a rate of 2.5% per annum.

Meanwhile the country’s business Confidence Index substantially increased by 68.5 points to 161.4 points in quarter 4 of 2018 from the confidence of 92.9 points in quarter 3 of 2018, according to the ZACCI business confidence survey.

Mr. Nyirenda says the increase was mainly due to the increase in demand for goods and services especially financial services and respondents’ expectations that the state of their businesses would improve in quarter 1 of 2019.