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The Rhodesia Herald,
January 24, 1972
NEXT Friday is Zambia’s budget day, when most urban Zambians are likely to learn for the first time since independence in 1964 what it is to tighten their belts.
The only people who are likely to gain anything are the rural Africans who generally have had a much tougher time in the past seven years.
Luxury has been the keynote for most Zambians living in the towns. The Mercedes-Benz car, television, fridge, cooker and hi-fi record player are all regarded as essentials by members of the newly arrived black elite.
Zambians better dressed and better fed than before, were led to believe that all this came about because of the wise administration of President Kaunda’s Government.
Politicians after independence explained that the cream of the country’s copper wealth was no longer skimmed into Salisbury (where most Zambians believed it went in the days of the Federal Government), and neither was it going into the coffers of London and Johannesburg big business.
However, the main reason for the unprecedented wealth was the boom in copper prices that tripled the value of Zambia’s mineral production from 1963 to 1969.
The mining industry alone in 1969 paid the Government K185m ($175m) in royalties and copper export tax.
By stark contrast Government’s revenue from that source in the first 10 months of 1971 was a mere K18,25m ($17,35m).
The total value of mineral production slumped with the prospect for the year’s total being lower than any year since 1965.
During the first 10 months of last year, the Government was in the red for the first year since independence, spending K232m ($220m) against an income of K225m ($213m).
Zambia’s politicians have generally kept public attention away from what is happening to the economy.
Such measures that have already been taken to tighten up the outflow of funds from Zambia have been aimed at the expatriate community.
As it treads warily along the path to African socialism, President Kaunda’s Government has gradually obtained a footing in some cases a stranglehold, in every sector of the economy, from the multiple stores to the copper mines themselves.
Any cutback in Government income must inevitably hit at the money it can afford to pump into the economy to maintain its past buoyancy, increasing number of school leavers.
Unemployment is now put by some observers as 15 to 20 per cent, which is well above the level under any colonial government.
The numbers coming on to the labour market, put by President Kaunda at 67 000 a year are bigger than ever before. Total employment is only about 360 000.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
The Republic of Zambia’s new Minister of Finance and Planning Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane under President Hakainde Hichilema of the UPND, delivered the 2022 national budget on October 29, 2021.
According to KPMG, “the 2022 Budget aims to be the first step towards achieving the vision of transforming the economy and will be actualised by providing incentives to support higher output and production of a wider range of products, with a focus on exports to regional and international markets.”
Despite the fluctuations in the prices of minerals like copper, Zambia remains a major exporter of copper and its current price has made the Zambian kwacha stronger. However, copper alone cannot satisfy the revenue needs of a country.
Like most developing countries, Zambia still has to achieve economic equitability among its population. There are still the super-rich and poor people in its midst.
Online Reporter