Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe has justified why her ministry decided to abolish value added tax and replace it with sales tax because some countries have strong economies because of such a move.

She has cited Malaysia, Canada and America as some of the countries that have strong economies because they have done away with value added tax.

The Minister has also admitted that the 2019 National Budget was not easy to come up with.
She said this in Lusaka during a 2019 budget analysis breakfast meeting organized by Deloitte Zambia.

And Mrs. Mwanakatwe has admitted that it was not easy to come up with the 2019 budget.

Mrs. Mwanakatwe says the budget is balancing the books, in balancing the books the government is collecting revenue and ensuring that the vulnerable in society are protected.

She says the 2019 budget is truly and ensuring that it protects the vulnerable in society.

She says it is important to protect the vulnerable as the country goes through a challenging economic time.

The Minister has urged Zambians to stop saying negative things about the nation.

She says negative sentiments are killing the nation.

‘’The exchange rate in South Africa has gone down, but you have never heard the South Africans talk negatives things about their nation as much as Zambians do, further question if the country is on fire,’’ she said.

Mrs. Mwanakatwe has further called on Zambians to be tax complaint.

She says that most Zambians do not comply when it comes to tax remitting, which should not be the case.

And Deloitte Zambia Audit Leader Alice Tembo says despite 2018 being a challenging year the country has recorded key stability in economic fundamentals such as the Gross Domestic Product-GDP which is expected to close at four percent at the end of the year.

She adds the macroeconomic environment is looking good as inflation rate has remained at six to eight percent throughout the year.

Mrs. Tembo says the exchange rate movements have been left under control.