Zambia Budget Speeches (2002 to 2022)

Zambian Budget Speeches

Zambia Budget Speeches from late 2000s are relatively easy to come by. I however have noted that it is almost impossible to find Budget Speeches from earlier days especially in soft copy. 

In my part to ensure we have these documents preserved for generations to come, I now share my personal collection of the Budget speeches with an initial period (of the those I have) from 2002 to 2022. I will however, be striving to add to this collection as new documents come my way or the order ones are scanned from hard copy to soft copy.

Budget Speech Download

2002 Budget Speech

2003 Budget Speech

2004 Budget Speech

2005 Budget Speech

2006 Budget Speech

2007 Budget Speech

2008 Budget Speech

2009 Budget Speech

2010 Budget Speech

2011 Budget Speech

2012 Budget Speech

2013 Budget Speech

2014 Budget Speech

2015 Budget Speech

2016 Budget Speech

2017 Budget Speech

2018 Budget Speech

2019 Budget Speech

2020 Budget Speech

2021 Budget Speech

2022 Budget Speech

Time To Nationalize

It is always interesting to look at how Economist look at different views they have on an issue in the economy. An interesting view if you are an Economist in the field also.

I have been looking at the issue of the mines and the outcomes of which party is in charge of the mines. Right now, we are made to believe mines are not making any profit and so their contributions to taxation. Seriously if the operations are so bad that no one pays taxes, it would not make business sense to even own the mine. So why don't the owners leave? Why would anyone continue with a business operation which does not make sense (both generic, economic or business sense). If it really was the case, they would have left. 

I believe they have not left because all these loses that they complain about is a properly engineered part of transfer pricing! They find all loses in the chain and the money and profits show up in Switzerland. How else will a company pay taxes in Switzerland over Zambia's minerals when Switzerland has no copper? That is an issue that shocks me. 

My perspective is even strange to other economists. I think it will make good sense if the same loses that the mining companies are complaining about leading to no payment of taxes to be enjoyed by government. Why can't government take over the burden from the mining companies and the little resources enjoyed by the owners of the mines be ploughed back into Zambia? The country will not experience loses as much as the mining companies. The difference will be, there will be worry about the loses and exports since all returns from the mining activities will be back here in Zambia!

I know any modern Economist avoids using the words of nationalization and favours privatization. I believe things should be looked at a different angle altogether. Zambia has been using modern economic theories and perspectives since time in memorial, have we seen any goodness out of that? When the mines were owned by the people of Zambia, the mining towns were doing way better than today. Even ZESCO was selling electricity properly and a rate better than it is today. So the two experiences we have had should give us a lesson we can surely use to our advantage. Even the football pitches were a marvel to be in. Need we forget the schools that we all dreamt of going to? So what has changed with going back and getting the best out of it.

From where I stand, the whole western world has ganged up on Africa and its resources. There is too much complex way of ripping the resources of Africa such that if we try to follow the logical steps, we will be doomed. Ireland, Luxemburg, Netherlands and now even Mauritius have been set up in such a way that they will use all possible ways of reducing taxes so that Multi-Nationals find their way to Africa through these places and rip all the resources. There is 10 times more resources leaving Africa than the ones coming in in form of "AID"! Had this been a straight forward business, Africa would have been far better than any country in Europe or the Americas. But that does not appear to be.

Moreover, if we look at the China arrangement, you will agree with me that China does not follow the "modern" economics. They use planned economy and have been heavily criticized by the west. Did the Chinese system fail them? No they have producing for the world! So anyone looking at a way to develop, would surely think China is a way to go! They have more state owned enterprises competing in the world than you would imagine. We have taken these as our brands for some reason without looking at them and their history. Look at these:

ZTE Corporation (Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation)

ZTE is no upstart. The company was founded in 1985 by a handful of state-owned companies affiliated with the Ministry of Aerospace Industry and has grown along with China's big phone companies, which are ZTE's top customers.That is pure genius!

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. 

Bharat Electronics Limited

So why do we fear nationalization  After all I think the mines will contribute more to the economy when all their owners are Zambians. Many countries have a way of dealing with State-owned enterprises, we can find a way that can work if we divorce politics from the running.

I know its wishful thinking, but it is worth every typed word. We should nationalize the mines - The benefits far, far out weigh the costs (I am a student Economist, I should know that!)

Kwacha Redonomination (Rebasing)

The Committee stage of the RE-DENOMINATION OF CURRENCY BILL, 2012 (N.A.B. 8 of 2012) went through Committee Stage yesterday and will have Third Reading today 21st Nov. 2012.

So we can safely say, we have the ngwee to our Kwacha. Kwacha economics has taken another mile stone of maintaining the Ngwee part of it. As far as things look today, we have the ngwee coins in our pockets by 1st January, 2013.

What I like about this whole process is how much economic activity is expected as a result of rebasing. We are being given an opportunity to use the coin in various ways. The simple one coming to mind is the vending machines (typically, we could have been using the 'notes' only type), but I think the coin idea makes people feel comfortable and at ease on a vending machine than notes. But more so as a parking attendant.

What people excited about these prospects highlighted about forget is the economics of just that idea of vending machines - they cause unemployment! Why would a shop owner employ one more person to help with snacks and pay him minimum wage when he can plant a vending machine in the shop and attend to those customers doing other things not snacks? This point is unfortunately the evils of development. We reach a stage we do away with labour intensive Technics and employ machines. I actually think, it would be better to have machines in that way than shop attendants who bring inefficiency to getting a cold drink.

We have to guard against bad outcomes of this rebasing though. Many of our uninformed people will be cheated out of their hard earned kwacha through street "crook-dom". So education (not sensitization which is a word wrongly used in Zambia) has to be intense and to the point. People should know that the value of the kwacha is not touched. Just the face - make up so to say. Good make-up in this case.

So we need to prepare for the new notes and new activities in our economy. The Kwacha has taken a new face and new clothes.

Effects Of No Electric Power On The Economy

I have ignored confronting ZESCO on the issues on power and what they are doing to this economy. But I have noticed, the more we ignore the issue, the worse the situation turns out to be.

So no ignoring and I have put on my fighting gloves as this issue cannot be ignored any further.

Electricity As Power In The Economy

One thing is for sure, in our country Zambia, the issue of power is important as it is the only source of energy for feed our hungry needs for economy progress. Not even our phones would work without power for a week. My laptop cannot be on without power for over two hours - maybe thats why I'm thinking of Asus Transformer with the potential of over 10hrs of no power!

I have bought a laptop charger for my car as I can buy fuel and charge whilst driving. That handles my problem - but only temporarily. The main problem is ZESCO. And since we are not doing anything about, it stays the same.

ZESCO Company or Baby Fed!

I have always wondered what is so special about ZESCO that makes it take us for a ride this long. Then I ask myself, if this company is a public enterprise, it should respect us as the owners and provide the necessary things or we may sell or shut it down. That it exactly what it means. Zambian people own it! So they should control it.

There are two things which shock me about how we handle business in Zambia. And until we find a way to stop this behavior, we will always be in trouble. 

Why? Just look at this:

• We negotiate taxes! We negotiate the birth right of being a nation so we can give people or foreign companies "incentives". The mere fact that this country is peacful and welcomes the investor is an incentive enough. But we go ahead and give then even the little we could have got from them. We need to stop this and move on progressively.
• We spoon feed a company (like ZESCO). It ends up depending so much on government. It gets loans with no plan of how it will repay them. And the debt is stuck on government. Because of that, it over charges the people while companies like mines get "favourable" rates. It may make sense to you but, it does not to me! If this was a company setup logically, it would put rates that make sense from the mines and not hammer the people.
  
  The sad part of this is that, mines get favourable treatment from all over, when they needed to be paying their equal share of the taxes. So you and I pay not only our taxes, but the mines' taxes and the salaries for ZESCO employees. Then power is taken away from our homes and put in the mines for the mines to rip even more wealth. Is this fair?

In doing the above, we have ended up being a failed generation. There is little we can show our children the positive contributions we made to the country. Zambia is in the state it is today because we don't do anything about it.

ZESCO's Tax Contribution

Do we know the tax contribution of ZESCO? I think we should know. We should also know how much loans they contract as we end up paying for this. I don't think it is too much to ask. We own the company. We should know how much taxes it pays, the dividends, then the amount of foregone customs and taxes that ZESCO enjoys. Then we should look at how much we are paying the workers. Its just fair and right for us owners.

Economy Effects
Without power, we can't power up our laptops and make reasonable income. We can't run servers from our houses to power up net-stations in Zambia. So we end up paying for server space in Europe or Asia. This is an out-flow of resources to other countries. Will government get taxes from that money? No way my friend. So we are probably the only country in the world without a ".com" community. And thats just 12-20 volts of power for our PCs and laptops. That partly explains why South Africa has almost every company with .co.za and in Zambia even government institutional websites have".com", ".org" or ".net". e.g. www.zambianconstitution.org (surely we are not even proud of .org.zm.

That is the cost of such critical elements in Zambia's economy like electricity and so on.

Computers people are all over the country. But have no means to be supported. All great .com companies are run and start from homes as it is cheaper and will give you time to start the busines, see the mistakes and then go on a full time scale. With ZESCO in existence, you will be in sane to even think of running your PC without a power backup system. All my websites are hosted in Asia. When they ask me why, I give excuses about not having time to configure and manage them all day. Truth - no there is now way I can run them here without paying through my nose to ZICTA and which ever of our 13 service providers - not sure who many actually host from the 13!

So my .com dream died when I looked at the cost of doing anything in that direction in this country with such power and expenses which favour foreigners and the rich.

Now imagine those with ideas of electronic inventions. Or manufacturing items. We are killed before we even start. Thats is the real effect of such power nonsense.

These are issues that should come into play for every company that receives such unwarranted favorable treatment. I know we all want this to happen to the mines, but surely, why not to every company that seems to know be doing the right thing.

I think we should be given a platform to do this. Not all of us can be politicians in order to put in place favorable business environments for our business. So we need to be looked at as well.

I am a Zambian I deserve Better! And ZESCO is not helping in any way. It should be made to do this just like all mines that feel taxes should not be paid coz they invested in the mines. Yes, but I am a Zambian, I own the minerals. You own the means to extract. If we disagree, you go with your means, I look for someone or I do it myself. But will you find the mineral I own? No! So I deserve better.

I am a Zambian, I Deserve Better!

Statutory Instrument No. 33 of 2012 - Yipppiiiieeee!!!!

The introduction of Statutory Instrument No. 33 of 2012 by the Bank of Zambia is a welcome move for any one interested in making our country Zambia better economically. I find this, an action worth celebrating over.

For starters, it was not making sense to have Kwacha which is ignored in most transactions within the republic as people preferred to trade in US Dollar. The fact that we have a legal tender, we should use it. Why should rental for housing be in US dollars and yet that house is in Zambia, in Zambian economy? There is no problem with one basing the rent on US Dollar, but that must be a good reason to do so. This action undermined kwacha and made it useless as everything was being backed by the dollar.

Dollarisation

This is a term used when citizens of a country use foreign currency (a US Dollar in this case) in parallel to or instead of the domestic currency as a medium of exchange within the domestic economy. So Zambia using any other currency to quote for prices or to demand payment of any services or goods is dollarisation.

Zambia was one country you could quote your goods and services in any currency with no shame. If there was a visit from Congo, they could have even bought in Congo currency.

But this brought with it many problems which are so severe in most cases it can even be damaging to the economy. A stop to this measure was not only needed, but was needed fast!

Benefits of S.I. 33 of 2012
There are so many positive effects that have been mentioned when issues are refered to the S.I. in question. But all in alll, I think there is only one positive effect that can be linked to this measure and the rest are merely as a result of this. This is the issue of controlling monetary policy of a country by the authorities that may be. There is no point in having monetary policy if at the end of the day, the monetary policy in the country is actually controlled from outside the country.

Zambia has a legal tender of Kwacha. So the authorities will defend and protect the Kwacha as it is the sole currency of the economy. Use of dollar or rand, will mean we tie our economic activities to another monetary authority and can even do away with some functions of the central bank. This is only useful in a country which is in a crisis.

So economic players should actually look at this measure and the great benefit it will come with.

Mis-Understandings
One common mis-understanding of the S.I. has been on the international trade. Most people expect the S.I. to block international trade and has thus brought an imbalance in the economy. Some "wise" people went as far as claiming we can't have the S.I. when Zambia is an importing country.

• Domestic trade is supposed to be conducted in the legal tender of the country. You can never go to the USA and expect to rent a house or buy a TV in Euros or Rands! But you expect this to be done in Zambia? But the problem has been that this dollarisation was left unchecked! So the S.I. simply reminds you of what currency you will use to trade in. It was shameful to walk into these "Real Estate" companies from South Africa even quoting in rands but never in Kwacha!
• International trade can continue and be conducted in any currency you wish. The only thing one needs to know is that the Kwacha is a convertible currency. That said, you can then simply pay even in Rupees as long as you use the bank system to send your money. They will in turn get your kwacha but send rupees. Simple like all other countries do.
• The bank system use will make sure the monetary authorities have control over the transactions and enable citizens buy things from anywhere in the world at no cost to our currency! Thats why when you travel out of the country, you get your usual ATM but with draw dollars or rands depending on which country you are in. The system is able to handle all transactions.
• We have a duty to protect our country and that starts with the currency. Parallel monetary policy has not helped the country at all. (Parallel in the sense that although we have our own monetary policy, it is controlled by currencies that have an embedded monetary policy of the country they come from. We had houses being sold and quoted in dollars leading to the weakening of the Kwacha every single day. Now we can concentrate on making Kwacha strong and viable in the world trade. That starts by making sure it is a legal tender for this country. I don't think I can go buy a car in South Africa with a Kwacha, why should we make possible for anyone else to come and use their currency in our country? 

This is one of the positive issues that economic players in the country should be happy about. After all, the benefits are for all the people around.

I think this measure has been one that has taken too long to be implemented and I'm one of those that think we can do a lot more to help the country prosper!

Well done for S.I. 33 of 2012!


I have heard talk about the problems of the S.I. Basically, the only "errors" the first "errors" I saw was reference to the wrong Act (the typo of year), but that would not injure the spirit of a good law. So we just need to correct that typo and a problematic paragraph and we are good to go. We need such progressive directions in this country to get something out.

No Romance without Kwacha!

'No Romance without Finance...
You need a J.O.B if you wanna get with ME'

Some interesting words from one of the world's famous oldies song. So can this be a good thing to start stating the obvious that Valentines and romance in particular has been commercialized? Gone are the days that you could link romance with such things as the river, sunsets, star-gazing, etc. Nowadays, believe this formula has an interesting truth

Romance + $$$ = Love

Can it really?

Lusaka woke up on an interesting note today. I saw alot of Red - shirts, dresses, gift boxes, wrappers, etc. Some one even exclaimed "How romantic!!!" This got me thinking...

How possible is it to think of love without a link to finances. I couldn't find a simple path to such bliss. Most things love included has been commercialized and really now depends on exchange rates, bank account balances, liquidity, currency, buying rates, etc! Love and romance are in a financial economy! You need so many things to conduct romantic activities, from movies, to romantic outings!

Looking at the way, moneys seems to be running all aspects of our lives, I believe the cyber space is one which makes money be a little out of the picture. Only cost is the connection charges and sometimes thats not much when u browse on mobile devices for blogs. So if money matters that much, in cyber space it should be that much. So how do we link the financial aspects of the cyber space and romance? We need to geek out a solution - as geeks are the noble citizens of the cyber space.

To my suprise, googling Valentines for geeks was an interesting result. I found many presents with interesting price tags, from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars! Geeks spend money on valentines. So what would be the financial returns in the cyber space valentine's day? How can we measure the magnitude of 'geek love'? If cyber space can link with normal world in romantic values of every day life and presents, we need to find a way to value this and tax it!

I miss the days I would go online to shut myself from everyday life and troubles and just be. Now, I have to watch out for adverts, phishing sites, malware, spy-ware, etc. I believe the economists must come up with a way to value such elements and give chance to the tax man to collect some Kwacha.

Anyway, thats a comic way of enjoying valentines day. I think you can have a laugh at some of these geek links:

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/304260/a-geeky-valentine

http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/valentines/

http://walyou.com/gift-ideas-for-him-her-valentines-day-2011/

http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2009/02/07/the-geek-guide-to-valentines-day-gifts/

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20090209/11-geeky-or-gadgety-valentine-gifts/