By Chris Mfula
LUSAKA (Reuters) -Zambia is pinning its hopes on the mining sector for an economic revival after the worst drought in living memory caused a sharp slowdown in growth this year, its finance minister said on Tuesday.
Situmbeko Musokotwane told an event on the economic outlook that new mines were opening imminently and old mines were re-investing to lift output.
“If all goes according to plan, 2025 should be the start of this revival and it will be getting stronger and stronger each year going forward,” he said.
The government estimates last year’s copper production was over 770,000 tons, an increase on the 698,000 tons produced in 2023.
Zambia wants to raise copper output to about 1 million tons by 2026 and further out to 3 million tons.
A finance ministry presentation to the same event showed officials were still optimistic that economic growth would reach 6.6% this year.
The government has revised down its estimate for 2024 growth to 1.2% from the 2.3% forecast given in September due to the lingering effects of the drought, the presentation said.
Zambia is still targeting a budget deficit of 3.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, higher than the latest estimate of last year’s deficit, which now stands at 2.7% of GDP.
The southern African country, the first African nation to default on its sovereign debt during the COVID-19 pandemic, has agreed restructuring terms for 90% of the external debt that it had hoped to restructure, the presentation also showed.
Zambian officials, including the secretary to the treasury and central bank governor, are in China to discuss some of the debt that still needs to be reworked, Musokotwane said.
(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Writing by Sfundo Parakozov and Tannur Anders; Editing by Alexander Winning and David Evans)
