By BUUMBA CHIMBULU THE manufacturing sec- tor remains central as the country seeks to boost the domestic economy because the industry provids value-addition which is one of the keys to economic growth. Many lessons can be drawn from the Covid-19 pandemic to enhance the local manu- facturing industry, says Policy Monitoring and Research Cen- tre (PMRC) Executive Director, Bernadette Deka-Zulu. Ms Zulu observed that there had been a surge in the production and demand of essential items such as phar- maceutical supplies, cleaning and disinfecting agents and surgical masks among other products. She was speaking during the PMRC second discussion fo- rum focusing on Zambia’s post Covid-19 economic recovery under the theme: “Zambia’s post Covid-19 economic recov- ery: Enhancing prospects in manufacturing and the role of Small and Medium scale enter- prises (SMEs).” “The manufacturing sector has considerable investment potential as the domestic econ- omy is relatively well endowed with necessary factors of pro- duction such as; large labour force, capital and natural re- sources,” Ms Zulu said. Ms Zulu regretted that the sector was one of the hard- est-hit by Covid-19.
‘Manufacturing a catalyst to economic growth’
