On 19th July 2018, the Minister of Finance,Honourable Margaret D. Mwanakatwe, MP, provided the midyear economic brief to update the nation on the following subject matters:
The ‘Blue Economy’ is a concept that develops opportunities which come with the conservation and sustainable use of water and water resources for the sustainable development. The concept of the Blue Economy provides for harnessing water resources to promote development and conceptualises Oceans, Rivers, Lakes, Floodplains and other water bodies as a development space were if well managed can lead to sustained economic growth, food security, job creation and sustainable livelihoods. The Blue Economy discussions came to the fore during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which took place in 2012 in Brazil.
The Blue Economy concept encompasses resources which cut across various economic sectors such as capture fisheries, aquaculture, biotechnology, mining, energy, transport and trade.
On the 30th of November 2017, the Report of the Auditor General on Accounts of Parastatal Bodies and other Statutory Institutions for the financial years ended 31st December 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 was released to the public. The report indicated fourteen institutions (five parastatals and nine statutory institutions) that had not produced audited financial statements for the financial years up to 31st December 2016. The report also indicated twenty-two institutions(two parastatals and twenty statutory institutions) with audit queries.
Overview: Improving the performance of the electricity sector in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries is a long-standing agenda, going back to the 1990s. The early approach was to attempt to implement a set of ‘standard’ or ‘textbook’ reforms based on economic theory and experience in countries.
On the 3rd of March 2017, Zambia launched the long-awaited National Climate Change Policy aimed at stemming the impact of climate change and subsequent reduction of the country’s annual economic growth due to crop failure and the impact of climate change on energy production. The National Climate Change Policy is an important policy development that introduces a well-structured and coordinated national strategy to effectively tackle the adverse effects of climate change. The policy is driven by the Ministry of National Development Planning and includes special consideration towards vulnerable groups such as poor rural women, children and the youth in Zambia.
On 6th December 2017, the Minister of Finance launched the 2017 Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Report on the Evaluation of the Public Financial Management System of Zambia based on Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Framework of 2016.
On the 6th of October, 2017 a Cholera Outbreak was declared in Lusaka. Since then sporadic cases have been recorded across the country with only three fatalities recorded outside Lusaka. Cholera is an infectious disease that causes severe watery diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration and even death if untreated. It is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae.