Africa-Press – Zambia. FINANCE and National Planning Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane says the IMF programme which is “likely to materialise in June will ensure stability in the exchange rate.”
Iyeeee uluse!!! Does this Minister have a slightest idea of the fundamentals that determines the exchange rate? First, in December, 2021, they lied that they had clinched the IMF deal.
Now in May, 2022, they are saying they are hoping that they will clinch the deal in June. Okay aba ndi anthu ONYENGA!!! Back to the matter at hand let us give the Minister a bit of Grade 10 Commerce:
Bwana Minister, you won’t stabilise the KWACHA using the IMF Loan, the IMF Loan is for balance of payment. You need increased foreign exchange earnings NOT an IMF loan to stabilise the KWACHA.
The KWACHA just like any other medium of exchange responds to the market forces and the rule of supply and demand. The more dollars you make the stronger your KWACHA becomes. Simple. And the amount of dollars a country makes depends on the amount of its export earnings which, itself depends on the productivity of the economy.
Copper is our major foreign exchange earner and at a time that a tonne of copper is fetching for as high as $11 000, our muzungu anikonde government has decided to give Tax Holidays to transnational mining conglomerates. What a loss! How unpatriotic!
And today you are begging for a meagre $1.4 billion from IMF which will come (if at all it will come) in a period of 36 months when you can easily make $1.6 billion dollars from taxes from the mines which you have given a tax holiday.
Ba Minister, we have been through this road before, nothing good came out of the previous IMF deals under UNIP and MMD governments, it was just pain, loss of jobs and death. You misled President Rupiah Banda, now you are Misleading President Sammy.
You are playing INKONOMICS, not ECONOMICS and it will end in tears. Unfortunately, it is the poor who will have to bear the harsh economic times that will come with your IMF conditionalities that you seem to be so excited about.
We said it, and we will say it again: UPND has NO economic plan, the only plan they have is the IMF Loan, unfortunately it is not the answer to our economic challenges.
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