Thu, 24 Nov 2016 11:58:21 +0000 THE Green Party has supported the stance taken by the PF government to introduce austerity measures in light of the shrinking resource base of the country. Party president Peter Sinkamba said Minister of Finance Felix Mutati conceded in his maiden 2017 national Budget speech presented to Parliament that the total export earnings have significantly declined. Mr Sinkamba said earnings from copper have fallen to US$3.2 billion from US$4 billion while non-traditional export earnings declined to US$1.3 billion from US$1.6 billion. He said total export earnings for Zambia in nine months this year (January to September) totalled US$4.5 billion on average, this works out at US$0.5 billion (US$500 million) per month. Mr Sinkamba said most export earnings for Zambia for 2016 would only hit a paltry US$6 billion and the country’s GDP has fallen from US$28 billion in 2015 to US$22 billion in 2016. “These figures surely demonstrate that the economy is in a mess and […]
