Troubled Times in the Zambian Economy
Introduction The Zambian economy is in the midst of a storm, brought on by strong headwinds. It feels eerily similar to the latter stage of the Patriotic Front regime. The dollar is breaching the K20 mark, the cost of fuel is at a record high (Nearly K30) amongst other problems. Zambians are murmuring and questioning the efforts of the UPND, particularly against the lofty promises they made to fix the economy. Things started well. In 2022, the Zambian Kwacha was stronger than the Russian Ruble, hailed as one of the best performing currencies in the world. The new government had clinched an IMF deal, the economy was growing amidst lofty policy statements, such as to ramp up copper production to 3 million metric tonnes by 2031. Momentum has fizzled out, however and the outlook is greyer than it was previously, with the Kwacha now being the 6 th worst performing currency in the world. I mentioned murmurings amongst the citizenry. I must hasten to add that unfortunately, some of t