A local investment expert has attributed the decline in trade surplus for the month of May 2019 to a slowdown in exports in the country.
Kenny Sinyangwe says production is still efficient, but the reduced exports are due to a reduction in investors expressing interest to Invest in the country due to uncertainty in the country’s taxation system.
Mr. Sinyangwe tells Money News in an interview that some investors fear that the sales tax might jeopardize their long-term plans.
He says unlike Zambia which makes one-year long plans, investors make long term plans of up to 20 years and they can only decide to invest when they are clear about how the tax is being planned out.
Zambia’s trade surplus has decreased from over six hundred and three billion in April 2019 to over five hundred and one billion Kwacha in May 2019.
Central Statistical office Acting Director for Census and Statistics Goodson Sinyenga says this indicates a decline by seventeen percent.
Mr. Sinyenga says imports have decreased by fourteen point five percent from seven thousand one hundred and seventy four billion Kwacha in April 2019 to eight thousand two hundred and fifteen billon in May 2019.