ZDA says this has created more than 8,000 jobs in third quarter of 2022
ZAMBIA registered US$1.1 billion worth of investment and more than 8,000 jobs in the third quarter of this year, the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has said.
The ZDA says the figures are due to improved macroeconomic economic fundamentals achieved by the Government.
The $1.1 billion investment is a 73 per cent increase on $631 million recorded in the same period in 2021.
The key sectors during the period under review were manufacturing, energy, tourism, mining transport, construction, services, agriculture and health with manufacturing recording the highest investment of $396 million.
ZDA Acting Director general Albert Halwampa disclosed this during a Press briefing in Lusaka yesterday.
Mr Halwampa said 8,307 jobs were recorded from 95 investment ventures, compared to 11,616 jobs recorded from 92 investment ventures over the same period last year.
“All this is happening due to the stable macroeconomic fundamentals. And as ZDA we are at a stage where investor confidence is at its highest level. We are now having an inflow of investors coming into this country because everybody sees that the foundation in Zambia is strong.” Mr Halwampa said.
Mr Halwampa said ZDA monitored 27 projects recording real investment of $3.89 billion creating 6,071 jobs.
“The total export earnings increased to $2.83 billion compared to $2.82 billion in the same period representing 0.35 per cent. Non Traditional Exports increased by 24.7 per cent to $907.17 million in the third quarter of 2022 from $729.19 million during the same period in 2021,” he said.
The agency had continued facilitating competitiveness of exporters through various services and exposure to markets including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mozambique which resulted in trade deals worth $27.98 million.
The DRC accounted for the largest share of $24.48 million, while $3.5 million was recorded from Mozambique.
“A total of $906.08 NTES were exported to DRC compared to $299.62 representing an increase of 202.41 per cent,” Mr Halwampa said.
Mr Halwampa said 1,279 businesses accessed Business Development Support (BDS) services including access to markets, finance technology and training.
He said that created 2,752 jobs compared to the 2021 period which supported 785 MSMEs and created 1,236 jobs.
Mr Halwampa said that ZDA was hopeful that the implementation of the $50,000 threshold for local investors would begin to take root in the fourth quarter.
The Government decided to reduce the threshold of investing from $500 000, which remained for foreign investors to $50,000.
He challenged local investors and journalists to think of creating their own media companies and invest in the sector of their interest.
