Chikwanda
Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda has attributed the appreciation of the Kwacha in the last two weeks to interventions on the monetary side of the economy.
This is according to the statement released to the media by First Secretary for Press and Public Relations at Zambia Embassy Patricia Littiya.
Mr Chikwanda said that Government had embarked on a number of interventions from both the fiscal and monetary sides including the review of fuel subsidies and procurement processes, review of electricity tariffs to improve investment in the sector and reduce government spending as measures to respond to the shocks in the economy.
He observed that there had been a lot of speculation prior to the assurances from the mining sector of continued mining activities. The Minister was speaking when he and his delegation paid a courtesy call on outgoing Ambassador to the United States Palan Mulonda the Zambian Embassy in Washington DC on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Mr Chikwanda and his delegation also paid a courtesy call on International Monetary Fund(IMF) Group 1 Constituency Executive Director Chileshe Kapwepwe at the IMF Headquarters in Washington DC, United States of America (USA).
The minister took time to explain the measures that Government had initiated so as to manage the shocks in the economy.
This was in response to Ms Kapwepwe who informed the Minister that the IMF was keen to learn what measures the Zambian Government was taking to respond to the shocks in the economy.
Mr Chikwanda explained that programs had been put in place to diversify the economy by making agriculture the mainstay of the economy.
The Minister added that climate change had resulted in erratic rainfall patterns affecting the development of this sector especially the irrigation system because ground water was depleted.
He added that there was however need to take stock of agriculture activities in order to come up with comprehensive programs to revitalize the sector.
