Zambia has economic comparative advantage – Mulusa

—Government says the country has a comparative advantage as an economy in the production of goods and services but exporting these is a challenge.

 

Special Assistant to the President in charge of Projects Monitoring and Implementation, Lucky Mulusa, says there is need to regulate all activities in the economy to avoid distortions, saying stringent measures should be put in place at Nakonde border post.

 

Speaking when he inspected the newly-completed one-stop border post at Nakonde, Mr Mulusa explained that the illegal exchange of currency going on at the no-man’s land between Zambia and Tanzania should be properly monitored so that regulation is ensured.

 

He said it is out of such economic activities that Zambian goods are failing to compete favourably, forcing business people to opt to rushing to import.

 

He explained that there is need for the Bank of Zambia to formalise trading in foreign exchange at Nakonde as the current situation may only provide for the introduction of fake Zambian Kwacha notes in the economy by some unscrupulous people.

 

Commenting on concerns by District Commissioner (DC) for Nakonde, James Singoyi, that there is illegal trading in the Kwacha where Zambian nationals are being used by Tanzanians to change the local currency into Dollars at the local banks.

 

Mr Singoyi observed that there are millions of Kwacha that Zambian business men and women deposit every day when they go to purchase various merchandise in the neighbouring nation and the same local currency is in turn brought back to Nakonde commercial banks where Zambians are used to help in exchanging it with the Dollar on almost daily basis.