(Mast) Finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane says the biggest challenge the country has is how to create jobs.
During the 2023 post budget and national development symposium organised by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Dr Musokotwane said efforts by both local and international companies to create employment in the country are not enough hence the need for more investments.
“And from that budget statement, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, you have requested that I come to this meeting and exchange views with Chinese businesspeople. And I want to say that I’m very pleased to be here to exchange views with you. Because this is what we are doing anyway. Our government feels that the biggest challenge that we have as a country or the biggest challenge that we have is how to create the jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs. That is challenge number one and we also know that the only way to provide more jobs for everyone is by attracting investments so that we have many companies operating in Zambia to create the jobs,” he said. “The government, yes, there are some jobs that we are creating like hiring more teachers, hiring more workers in the health services, hiring more policemen but there is a limit. The whole country cannot be policemen, cannot be teachers, cannot be nurses, cannot be immigration officials. Most of the jobs must come from the private sector. So, that’s the way we see things in this government. We are always ready to speak to the private sector, Zambian businesspeople, to encourage more private sector activities in the country.”
Dr Musokotwane thanked Chinese companies for many things that they are doing in the country “as they are raising the quality of the economy”.
He asked the private sector to do more.
“Also I want to tell you that please do even more because what we’re doing now, whether it is Zambian companies, whether it is Chinese companies, whether it’s companies from America or Europe, India, we are not yet doing enough to absorb the number of young people looking for jobs. We are not doing enough,” he noted. “Let me also say I’m very pleased with the activities of the Chinese businesspeople in Zambia. I was very pleasantly surprised at the last agriculture show. I went to the show and what I saw was very pleasing. I also learned that there’s a lot of things happening to produce building materials to replace the imports. Of course, some of you are producing cements. Some of you have seen some of the best furniture, whether you’re talking about chairs, tables, beds, I’ve seen some very nice things made of course by some of your companies using local timber. That is an example of value addition. So there are so many things that some of you are already doing in terms of value addition in the country. I want to congratulate you because you are raising the quality of economy. Thank you so much.”
Dr Musokotwane noted that the areas where the needed jobs can come from is from the private sector through investment.
“I was told today that there are some young people, they saw an advert from Zambia Revenue Authority for jobs. So jobs at ZRA [are for] 115, the number of applications [were] 10,000. Okay, there is something wrong with that. It tells you that there are not enough jobs. Number two, the jobs, most of the jobs should be in industry. That is what we see in every other country in the world. The jobs are in the industry and commerce. The jobs in government are few. So that is why I’m saying that we are not yet doing enough and we must do more to create the jobs, to create the skills, to improve the livelihoods of our people,” he said. “I encourage you, challenge you to do more to bring more investments in the country. We will openly welcome that because, that is what we want.”
Dr Musokotwane said the government intends to push down the inflation beyond five per cent as part of stabilising the country’s economy.
“The interest rates are still remain high. They need to come down. The confidence in the economy needs to be maintained. What I mean here is that the policy must be consistent. Not where today the policy is like this, tomorrow the policy is different. Next week the policy is different. That confuses everybody,” he said. “So, what we are waiting now for, having made this progress, is to get us to have now the memorandum of understanding signed by the official creditors that we are now arranging to negotiate the restructuring of the debt. That is something that is remaining and I’m encouraged by the Minister Counsellor to say ‘listen, engage with the representative on the Common Framework’ so that we can make progress. Thank you so much for that. And indeed, we are going to engage.”
Dr Musokotwane said the issue of debt should be seen as an opportunity for the country to encourage investment in the economy like the way other economies have done.
“…that’s what sometimes disaster tells you or teaches you to do. And we are determined to move away from this disaster of excessive debt to push the economy strong. So that we come out of a disaster into something that is even much better than what we ever did before. What is possible, if you are looking for a future, is to use Zambia as a stringboard for value addition to export. What is possible now is to use local raw materials in Zambia, add value and export so that you don’t depend on the government to give you a business. It is now business from private sector to private sector here in Zambia or abroad,” he said. “So the opportunities for using Zambia as a springboard, as a production centre for exports in the neighbourhood countries, is what we would like to see. This is what we would like to see.”
Dr Musokotwane called on businesses to engage the government of any laws that are hindering their operations.
“I know we are always saying obey the Zambian laws, but that does not mean that Zambian laws are always right. Which means there’s a possibility that sometimes our laws are a problem and if they are a problem, say so. For any businessperson, if certain laws are a problem, tell us so that if they are unreasonable, if they create problems for industry, we will listen and change them. Don’t feel shy if something is a problem. Say this thing is a problem. And if you make profits don’t feel shy…” urged Dr Musokotwane.
Chinese Embassy minister counsellor Dr Meng Hao said the imports that China gets from Zambia is six times more than what is exported to Zambia, which he said was an encouraging figure.
And Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Zambia president Li Tie thanked Dr Musokotwane for engagement stressing that it was a good start.