FINANCE minister Alexander Chikwanda says the countrys current economic growth is not sufficient to reduce poverty. Speaking when he officially opened the Zambia Federation of Employers 48th annual general meeting at Radisson Blu Hotel in Lusaka yesterday, Chikwanda said poverty levels in the country were still high despite impressive economic growth seen in the last decade. Although economic growth has been impressive in the past decade, overall growth since independence has not been sufficient to effectively spur economic growth and reduce pervasive levels of poverty the country continues to endure, he said. Chikwanda said Zambia had lagged behind countries such as South Korea in reducing poverty despite the two nations gross domestic product (GDP) being at the same level at the time of the formers independence. At independence, Zambias GDP stood at US $3 billion and was comparable to that of South Korea which at that time had a GDP of US $3.58 billion, said Chikwanda. Currently, South Koreas GDP is 55 times higher than the current Zambian GDP.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 11:35:19 +0000
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