I wish to start by thanking most sincerely his excellency the president of the republic of Zambia Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu, for accepting our invitation to come and officiate at this first ever gala dinner of the Economics Association of Zambia (EAZ). Your excellency, we feel greatly honoured that you took time off your very busy schedule to come and join us at this occasion.
As the EAZ, we note that your presence here is a clear testimony of how economic matters are close to your heart.
A couple of months ago, the EAZ requested to pay a courtesy call on you and you gladly accepted and hosted us and provided an opportunity for us to explain to you how we intend to contribute to the national economic development agenda of our country, Zambia.
Your excellency sir, when the newly elected EAZ board, of which i am privileged to lead as president met you, you made an invaluable statement that inspires me and my team and i quote: “i’m impressed with the revolutionary approach you have taken as economics association of zambia to engage stakeholders. I want independent think-tanks to engage me and my government on national matters, for citizens to have a true narrative about the country’s economy and its management.” End of quote.
I wish to emphasize, your Excellency sir, that you called for a constructive and progressive nation- building engagement between your government and all economic stakeholders such as the EAZ. This advice, your Excellency sir, our association has taken it seriously and we are putting it to practice daily. This is because this advice is in line with the core mandate of the economic association of Zambia which is to promote and advocate for sound economic policies that will propel Zambia to economic prosperity.
Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, the theme for this evening’s economics gala dinner is “uniting towards an integrated approach to national economic development”. This theme is in line with our seventh national development plan whose theme is “accelerating development efforts towards the vision 2030 without leaving anyone behind”.
Your Excellency, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the economics association of Zambia appreciates the integrated approach that was used in the formulation of the seventh national development plan and its on-going implementation.
Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, at this point, i wish to quote a few words from the foreword to the seventh national development plan and I quote: “the integrated approach recognises the multi-faceted and interlinked nature of sustainable development which calls for interventions to be tackled simultaneously through a coordinated approach to implementing development programmes. The goal of the 7ndp is to create a diversified and resilient economy for sustained growth and socio-economic transformation, driven, among others, by agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, and Furthermore, this plan responds to the smart zambia transformation agenda 2064 and embeds in it the economic stabilization and growth necessary for the actualization of a smart Zambia. This is in support of the un 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the African union agenda 2063.” End of quote.
Your Excellency, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the economics association of Zambia notes that the on-going successful implementation of the seventh national development plan under the medium term expenditure framework tenets will enable the Zambian economy to continue registering sustainable economic growth.
Your Excellency, the economics association of Zambia recognizes your government’s commitment to economic inclusive growth and stabilization.
Your excellency, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, there is no other type of economic growth apart from inclusive economic growth that will enable us as Zambians accelerate the attainment of our cherished long-term aspiration: “to become a prosperous middle-income nation by 2030”.
Your Excellency, the economics association of Zambia is alive to the fact that your government is continuously formulating and implementing inclusive growth policies aimed at turning Zambia into a prosperous nation beyond our imagination.
Your excellency, the economics association of Zambia advocates for pro-poor economic inclusive growth. It is against this background that the association wishes to urge you to continue taking development to all parts of the country as you stated during your address to the second meeting of the second session of the 12th national assembly on the progress made in the application of national values and principles on 16th march 2018 which the economics association of Zambia’s sees to be in line with the theme for this gala and I quote: I wish to restate that, government is taking development to all parts of the country as evidenced by the infrastructure development projects being undertaken in all the ten provinces of our country. These include the construction of:
- Roads in the rural areas to provide a support base for increased economic opportunities in rural areas where poverty is more prevalent;
- Education facilities to cater for primary, secondary and tertiary levels;
- Health centres and specialized hospitals;
- Communication towers; and
- Aviation infrastructure.
It is against this background, your Excellency that our association shall continue to provide timely, constructive and progressive input to your government’s policies in the areas of economic prosperity against all economic, social, cultural and political odds. This is because the economic association of Zambia believes in positive synergies and embraces a progressive culture of symbiosis for the benefit of all of us as a nation. Your excellency, the inclusive growth policies that your government is pursuing are in line with the world bank’s principles.
Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, having talked briefly about inclusive growth, the economics association of Zambia believes that the plans stipulated in the 2019 budget of re-introducing sales tax are aimed at collecting revenue that will support this inclusive growth. Furthermore, the economics association of Zambia welcomes plans to invite strategic partners into indeni petroleum refinery limited and ZSIC general limited. However, we wish to urge the government to cautiously consider win-win strategic partnerships if these state-owned enterprises are to start registering sustainable business growth and profits and consequently attain sustainable competitive advantage. The economics association of Zambia believes that our state-owned enterprises can grow into multinational enterprises if the government continues to provide an enabling environment for them to operate with the right calibre of professionals with the right experience, competences and qualifications. This will consequently contribute significantly to the realisation of Zambia’s inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development agenda.
Furthermore, your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, the economics association of Zambia welcomes the plans of listing ZSIC life limited and Zambia forestry and forest industries corporation (ZAFFICO) on the Lusaka stock exchange in 2019. The economics association of Zambia appreciates the fact that this decision will offer Zambians an opportunity to have a stake in state-owned enterprises. However, the economics association of Zambia wishes to advise government to maintain 51% shareholding in all state-owned enterprises, and allocate a significant percentage of the remaining 49% to Zambians, especially the small-scale saw- millers on the copper belt and other parts of the country.
Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to call upon small-scale saw millers and other industries in the timber sector to form cooperatives that can buy shares on the stock exchange once the government offloads some percentage of shares on the Lusaka stock exchange. I call upon Zambians to start viewing the Lusaka stock exchange as an investment centre as well as a source of finance and avenue for long term earnings.
Your Excellency, the economics association of Zambia will next year join the bank of Zambia and many financial regulators and financial institutions in the fight against financial illiteracy that seems to be a source of most of the wrong financial decisions that some of our people make these days. We appreciate all the efforts already made by the bank of Zambia and other financial regulators since the launch of the national strategy on financial education for Zambia which was commissioned by the bank of Zambia and overseen by the financial sector development plan (FSDP), financial education working group, with technical support from FINMARK trust. However, the economics association of Zambia believes more can be done in the fight against financial illiteracy and promotion of financial inclusion and education so that the general citizenry receives appropriate, relevant, and timely financial education that would provide frontiers of financial knowledge in respect of available investment vehicles and financing options. This will make even the youth in Kitwe to adequately understand the advantages of listing state-owned enterprises such as ZAFFICO on the Lusaka stock exchange.
Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, the economics association of Zambia wishes to request the government to consider including economics and finance as a stand-alone subject that should be taught from primary school to secondary school. This is one of the best ways of including financial education in our curriculum. The economics association of Zambia is ready to work with the ministry of general education in formulating the primary and secondary school syllabi for economics and finance as a subject. In most countries, these subjects are taught at primary to secondary school levels unlike the way it is in Zambia where students only come in contact with economics and finance at college or university level.
Your Excellency, the economics association of Zambia plans to hold the first ever economic summit in June/July 2019 with support from our partners that include the bank of Zambia as the possible main sponsor. However, we wish to invite more sponsors to come on board. This summit will provide a platform on which economic, social and political think-tanks, thought-leaders, renowned academicians, professionals, civil servants and top government officials will exchange knowledge, think creatively and debate current social and economic issues in an intellectual manner.
Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to bring it to your attention that we are planning to convert the economics association of Zambia into a professional body established by an act of parliament that will admit and regulate professional practice of economics, finance, development studies, business management and other related fields. It is worth noting that this move will ensure that highest levels of professional ethics are adhered in our profession.
Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to assure our members across the country that turning the economics of association of Zambia shall into a statutory body will in no way regulate the independent thinking of individual members and think-thanks. Economics and its sister fields or professions is anchored on the independence of economic thought. Therefore, there is no need to worry as we shall continue to exercise our profession in a very objective, analytical, critical, progressive and constructive manner so that we remain relevant to all those tasked with the responsibility of captaining our economic plane.
Your excellency, at the economic summit, only evidence-based debates anchored on research papers will be presented and discussed not personal opinions. We intend to also launch the Zambia economics journal where only evidence-based journal articles will be published. This journal will be a source of objective, timely, relevant and correct economic, finance and business information on Zambia. This journal will be published online, so that it can reach many people within and outside Zambia. Our plans are to make this a free online access journal especially if we are to secure funding to support our contributors, especially the reviewers. The journal will be published every quarter.
Your Excellency, may I now take this opportunity again, as i did when we paid a courtesy call on you, to invite you to come and officiate at the economics association of Zambia inaugural economic summit to be held in June/July next year (2019). We wish to assure your Excellency that the economics association of Zambia economic summit and the Zambia economics journal will be a source of information for economic policy formulation, analysis, and implementation.
Your Excellency, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I wish to sincerely thank first and foremost state house and his Excellency the president of the republic of Zambia for the support they have rendered to ensure this event is a success. I also with to thank all persons and institutions, government ministries and departments whose support has made this event possible.
Lastly, I wish to once again publicly extend the invitation to his Excellency, Mr Edigar Chagwa Lungu, and President of the Republic of Zambia to come and officiate at our inaugural economic summit to be held in June/July next year 2019.
May god bless you all. May god bless the large family of economics association of Zambia. God bless our people and may god indeed, bless mother Zambia.