The Public Policy Institute of Zambia (PPIZ) says Zambia should be striving to become an export oriented country.
PPIZ President Fabian Chewe tells Money FM News from Kitwe via telephone that the dwindling of the foreign reserves just shows that Zambia is importing more than it is exporting.
The Standard Bank Group which trades in Zambia as Stanbic Bank has forecast that foreign exchange reserves in Zambia could decline further to US$1 billion before the end of June.
Bank Head of Africa Research Phumelele Mbiyo said the tentative forecast is based on discussions that the bank officials had with the Bank of Zambia during a recent visit to Lusaka.
In the report titled Déjà vu, the Bank says the amount of external debt service payments was sufficiently large to suggest that foreign exchange reserves could be closer to US$1.2bn or even US$1.1bn by the end of March.
But Mr. Chewe said Zambia has been downgraded but of its failure to export more than it is importing.
He said Zambia needs to produce more for exports that will compete on the international market thereby growing the GDP.
Mr. Chewe stated that for Zambia to raise more revenue, there is need to produce and export more.
He said it is unfortunate that Zambia is a consuming nation and not a production nation.