• The country has an influx of foreign investors who externalize profits to their countries.
• This is why most of them engage in tax avoidance so that they can maximize on their profits.
• ZDA should ensure that all investment pledges are actualized and not get excited over the presidential trips.

A Business Analyst has urged Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) to put in place mechanisms that will encourage Zambians to invest in the domestic economy so that it is owned by the citizens themselves.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Francis Chipili noted that the country has an influx of foreign investors who externalize profits to their countries of origin, at the expense of the Zambian economy.
Mr. Chipili said this is why most of them engage in tax avoidance so that they can maximize on their profits but when local companies owned by Zambian people make profits, they reinvest in the economy to develop the country.
“When we have an influx of foreign investors, there is nothing wrong with having foreign investment but foreign investors at the end of it when they make their profits, they externalize the profits to their countries of origin.”
“Also our environment is being externalized by these foreign companies, some of them are engaged in mining and they mistreat the people. So there is an opportunity cost that we incur as a country when we encourage a lot of foreign investment because they do not care about the environment all they care about is their exploitation of our minerals, cheap labour and to maximize on their profits,” Mr. Chipili observed.
He further observed that foreign investment is good on paper but it does not necessarily benefit the country.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chipili advised ZDA to ensure that all the investment pledges are actualized and not get excited over the presidential trips as this is not the first time that foreign companies have come to Zambia and make pledges.
He noted that there are some companies that pledge on paper huge sums of money to say they are coming to invest in Zambia, but what obtains on the ground is totally something different.
“As a country that is looking for serious investment, we cannot get excited over pledges. Let them actualize those pledges and if those companies are not registered here in Zambia, they can be registered and they are operational and we see how they are treating our people and how they are contributing to the overall economy of the country. Then we can get excited and say the presidential trips have been beneficial.”
“This is not the first time that foreign investors or foreign companies have come to Zambia and make pledges. So President Hakainde Hichilema is not the first President of Zambia to have made foreign trips, getting or attracting investment pledges,” he said.
Last week, Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) revealed that it registered 81 investment ventures in quarter one of 2023 with an investment value of US$8.57 billion, compared to 74 recorded in the same period in 2022 with an investment of US$ 240.13 million.
The key sectors included Energy, Manufacturing and Agriculture with the highest investment in energy worth US$ 8 billion.
Agency Director General, Albert Halwampa attributed the increase in investment ventures to Presidential trips.
“To take the US$20 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to US$100 billion, we need the President to continue unlocking those opportunities all over the world so that those investors can come and partner with you Zambians. So we are saying let the President travel more and more to bring more investment,” Mr. Halwampa said.