Economic growth panacea to Kwacha’s woes – Chikwanda

Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda says the only panacea to overcoming the depreciation of the Kwacha is to grow the economy so that the country can export more.

Mr Chikwanda told Parliament today that the other alternative is to reduce on imports.

Mr Chikwanda laments that Zambia imports almost everything including juices, when the country has the right climatic soil conditions to grow the ingredients from which juice is produced.

He adds that given the state of the economy now the Kwacha maybe even slightly overvalued.

Mr Chikwanda has further stated that all the money Government is borrowing on the international is invested in growth promoting projects in the various sectors of the economy including agriculture and energy.

He has however bemoaned the country’s poor work culture which he describes as adverse, and makes it difficult to ensure the borrowed funds are used to grow the economy.

The Finance Minister states that to him, what is more worrying is not the fiscal deficit, but the commitment and integrity deficits.