By BUUMBA CHIMBULUZAMBIA’S economy registered growth in the first quarter of this year for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2019, mainly driven by the agriculture sector.The Zambian economy kept a recovery trend since the second quarter of 2020 when growth hit its minimum at -5.9 percent.This is according to the Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) researcher Mataa Wakumelo.Mr Wakumelo indicated that the growth was driven mainly in the agriculture, forestry and fishing, financial and insurance and Information and communication industries.He said after registering negative growth rates throughout 2020, quarterly Real Gross Domestic Product growth ‘bottomed out’ to 0.7 percent in the first quarter of 2021-about 1.1 percent shy of the 1.8 percent target growth rate in the 2021 National Budget. “The agriculture sector was among the top three sectors that contributed to positive economic growth in the first quarter.“The country recorded a total production of 3, 620, 244 metric tonnes […]
AGRO OUTPUT BOOSTS ECONOMIC GROWTH
