‘AUSTERITY MEASURES WILL SHAME CRITICS’
ZAMBIA’S austerity measures and implementation of fiscal discipline will shame critics as they are already bearing fruit and will go a long way in stabilising the economy, Edwin Lifwekelo has observed.
Speaking to the Daily Nation yesterday, Mr Lifwekelo said some opposition political parties were “whining” about the alleged poor performance of the economy and calling for austerity measures to be implemented.
He said it was sad that the same people had failed to give credit where it was due and were instead trivialising the measures Government has taken to reduce expenditure.
He said the hypocrisy exhibited by some political leaders and Civil Society Organisations that had repeatedly discredited the government for allegedly not coming up with measures to resuscitate the economy had been exposed.
“When the Kwacha depreciates, they will say Government is responsible for its downward spiral because it is not doing anything. When the Kwacha appreciates, they will not admit that someone somewhere is working on modalities to ensure that our currency weighs-in on major convertible currencies but that it is merely the forces of demand and supply at play.
“Not long ago, they demonised Government and President Edgar Lungu in particular for not doing anything to improve the economy.
“Government has put in place mechanisms for economic growth by cutting on expenditure and borrowing but they cannot admit that it is a positive move towards meaningful economic growth because all they wish for are bad things to happen in this country so that they can easily claim that the PF has failed to govern,” Mr Lifwekelo said.
He said reforms put in place by the Ministry of Finance and other supporting ministries will ensure that the government remained on course towards achieving sustained and inclusive growth.
He said the measures put in place by Government are a show of commitment towards prudent financial and sound economic management and that the measures taken by President Lungu would become a blueprint as the government addressed economic shortcomings.