Haimbe courts investors at UNGA 2025
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Mulambo Haimbe has urged the international business community to consider investing in Zambia.
He said Zambia has a stable investment environment, coupled by sound economic policies.
Speaking at a private investment roundtable on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Haimbe said the Zambian government took bold steps to create a business friendly environment.
Over the years, Zambia has recorded several favourable macroeconomic indicators for over a decade.
The average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 6 percent has been registered of late, this is anchored by good performance in the mining, agriculture, manufacturing, services and construction sectors.
In addition, the country attained the lower middle income status in 2010 and by 2015 its per capita GDP had reached US$1, 800.
Regarding foreign direct investment, inflows into Zambia rose from US$ 72 million in 2008 to a high of US$ 2,100 million in 2013, before reducing to US$ 1,300 million in 2014. In 2014 and first half of 2015, international prices of primary commodities were generally low, which temporarily affected the country’s export earnings and some macroeconomic indicators.
By June 2016, Zambia had a total of US$1.8 billion in investment pledges across various economic sectors over the preceding six months. The energy sector registered the highest amount of the pledged investments, followed by the agriculture and the manufacturing.
This represents an increase of 20%, compared with the US$1.5 billion investment pledges recorded in the first half of 2015.
It should also be noted that as a result of Zambia’s business environment reforms, the country is now ranked 8th in Africa, 5th in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and 4th in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMASA) in terms of the ease of doing business.
Furthermore, Zambia is ranked the 8th most competitive country in Africa on the Global Competitiveness Index. Recently, Zambia was ranked 7th by Forbes as the best country for doing business among 54 African countries.
In the area of trade, Zambia recorded a positive trade balance of US$ 300.6 million in 2014, as well as an increase in non-traditional exports (NTEs) over the years from US$ 1,381.8million in 2010 to USD 3,550.3 million in 2013.
Copper and cobalt are among Zambia’s main exports while non-traditional exports include cotton, coffee, fresh flowers, burley tobacco, gemstones and maize (corn) among others.
Zambia is also eligible to export duty-free goods to the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The Act allows eligible countries from sub-Saharan Africa to export over 6,400 goods to the U.S.
The Zambian people aspirations and vision is to make the country a prosperous Middle Income Nation by 2030.
It is in this regard that the Zambian Government came up with a national long term plan known as the Vision 2030 which long term development policy scenarios at different points for the next 20 years.
The Vision is being operationalised through the five year developments plans and annual budgets.
The socio-economic development objectives enshrined in the Vision 2030 are to: attain and sustain annual real growth of 6 percent (2006-2010); 8 percent (2011-2015); 9 percent (2016-2020); and 10 percent between 2021 and 2030.
Other objectives include to attain and maintain a moderate inflation rate of 5 percent; to reduce national poverty head count to less than 20 percent of the population to reduce income inequalities measured Gini-coefficient of less than 40 percent; to provide secure access to safe water and improved sanitation facilities of 100 percent of the population across the country; to attain education for all; and to provide equitable access to quality health care to all by 2030.