Africa-Press – Zambia. The Kitwe Chamber of Commerce has welcomed plans by the United Party for National Development (UPND) administration to promote value addition to Zambia’s exports.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Kitwe yesterday, Kitwe Chamber of Commerce Vice President Emmanuel Mbambiko said the move will help broaden the tax base for government, create employment and increase the value of the country’s exports.
And Mr. Mbambiko has since urged government to insure that it deliberately provides necessary incentives to stimulate the private sector to go into value addition of products.
He cited duty free importation of manufacturing machinery, tax holidays and favourable local prices for products to be processed as some of the incentives.
“If one wants to venture into processing of local products such as copper, the price of buying copper locally should be low so that manufacturers are encouraged and be able to make profits, right now buying copper from here is as good as buying it from London, so we need government to intervene so that our members can start processing copper cables and other copper products,” he said.
Mr Mbambiko also called for a holistic approach in addressing the power challenges so that such industrialization plans can be achieved. He noted that without smooth supply of power all the envisaged value addition goals will not be attained and the vision will just die out as had been the case in the past. Mr. Mbambiko has also appealed to government to address bottlenecks that make the cost of doing business high in Zambia.
Last Sunday, during the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) programme dubbed ‘The Sunday Interview’, newly appointed Minister of Finance Situmbeko Musokotwane said government will work with the private sector to ensure economic recovery through the revival of industries that will engage in value addition to the country’s exports.
