Africa-Press – Zambia. I often sail clear off issues with political connotations, preferring diplomacy instead, but after reading the FIC report, I couldn’t help but think that I should drop my two ngwee here.
Let’s talk numbers, and not the kind that make you proud. In 2024 alone, Zambia lost $3.5 billion through illicit financial flows, according to the Financial Intelligence Centre.
That’s nearly 20% of our national budget, siphoned off through shady commercial transactions, shell companies, and suspicious remittances.
It’s not just a problem, it’s a slow bleed in an economy already walking a tightrope.
Now, zoom out. Zambia’s GDP in 2024 stood at $26.3 billion, with a projected growth of 6.6% in 2025, a hopeful rebound after a drought-hit 2024.
But hope needs fuel, and that fuel is cash. When nearly a fifth of your economic output vanishes into offshore accounts, it’s like trying to fill a leaking bucket. Its crazy.
Our GDP per capita? Just $1,235 in 2024. That’s the average income per Zambian, barely enough to scrape by, especially when over 60% of the population lives in poverty, and nearly 49% are classified as extremely poor.
In rural areas, poverty hits 78.8% of households. These aren’t just statistics, they’re stories of empty plates, unpaid school fees, and dreams deferred.
Meanwhile, Zambia’s foreign debt hovers around $23 billion, with restructuring efforts underway.
The IMF projects our debt-to-GDP ratio could fall below 90% by 2026, but that depends on growth, discipline, and, yes, plugging leaks like this $3.5 billion scandal.
What’s worrying is the shift: public sector corruption reports are down, but private sector schemes are up.
Multinational enterprises using Zambian proxies, fake furniture invoices, and third-party cash deposits, this isn’t petty theft. It’s organized, systemic, and deeply corrosive.
So what do we do? We tighten controls. We regulate professional enablers, lawyers, estate agents, accountants.
We empower banks to flag suspicious transactions. And we talk about it. Loudly. Let’s not leave it to the Donors when the government has told us they hate the scourge of the raft of graft.
Silence is expensive. And Zambia can’t afford it.
Let’s turn this leak into a lesson. Let’s make financial integrity a national value, not just a compliance checkbox on a dash board.
After all, every kwacha we save is a child fed, a road built, a future secured.
In life those that raise red flags for you love you, the ones that stay quite hate you.
Amb. Anthony Mukwita is an International Relations Analyst and published author.
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