ZUFIAW Calls For An Urgent Economic Recovery Plan

The Zambia Union of Financial Institutions and Allied Workers (ZUFIAW) is calling on government to come up with an urgent economic recovery plan that reduces the current high unemployment rate and alleviate poverty levels among the poor, as opposed to waging war against the workers and the working class majority in the country.

It is also important to state that our leaders be magnanimous enough and takes full responsibility and acknowledges that among the reasons for the ailing economy are mismanagement of public finances, corruption, governance challenges and vulnerabilities and underlying structural weaknesses (dependency on maize as a staple food and copper for revenue and export).

Therefore, it is against this background that the marshal plan which we embark on is sustainable and stimulates the economy beginning with stabilization of the macroeconomic environment which has eluded this government in the past few years. We reaffirm our call for government controlled appetite of borrowing both internally and externally.

There is no doubt that the agricultural sector in Zambia has been neglected despite its huge potential. Many countries that are industrialized have done so using agriculture, and for us as a country, we boast about good climate and vast track loads of arable land. The only thing missing is a policy that supports mass production with proper market orientation, that would make our banks to mobilise huge deposits from revenues from the farmers, and this would in turn enable banks give out loans at a much cheaper rate as opposed to the current scenario where they are using borrowed funds to loan out at a higher rate which ultimately distorts our economy.

Furthermore, another critical area of importance is energy sufficiency. There is an urgent need to look at alternative sources of energy which are typically not highly mechanised and capital intensive, energy sources that are also not harmful to the environment and human beings. Increased support to renewable energy (solar) is very significant to the economy for it is labour intensive. We all know that solar panels and wind farms require technical expertise for installation and maintenance. When this is added to our national grid, will lower electricity tariffs and create the much needed employment for our youths.

Ackim Mweemba
Zufiaw President

Source: Zambia Reports