Zambia Economic Brief, June 2014 : Promoting Trade and Competitiveness - What Can Zambia Do?
Zambia continues to experience strong growth, but challenges are building up. Copper prices are declining, and global financial conditions are tightening. At home, the fiscal deficit is becoming difficult to manage, and Zambia's currency has s...
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| Format: | Economic Updates and Modeling |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/06/19748287/promoting-trade-competitiveness-can-zambia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19300 |
| Summary: | Zambia continues to experience strong
growth, but challenges are building up. Copper prices are
declining, and global financial conditions are tightening.
At home, the fiscal deficit is becoming difficult to manage,
and Zambia's currency has sharply depreciated. The
government intends to reduce future budget deficits, but
this would involve making difficult political choices. In
the past few years inflation and interest rates have
declined and the currency has been relatively stable,
providing an environment for growth and reducing poverty.
High inflation would hurt the poor most. The brief
specifically focuses on the opportunity for Zambia to emerge
as a major food exporter to Eastern and Southern Africa and
the policy direction that would take it there; the need to
reduce high costs of crossing borders that will facilitate
regional trade in non-copper products; and a long-term
approach to developing competitiveness of the local mining
supply cluster. |
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