Suchergebnisse

The construction sector plays a critical role in delivering quality infrastructure, which in turn influences the use of natural resource revenues towards achieving structural change and industrial development. We use industrial organization and political economy lenses to describe and understand the organization of and changes in the construction industry in Zambia, focusing on demand-side factors; supply-side issues; market interactions through pricing and costs; and public institutions, regulations, policies, and structures. We establish the main firm-level, industry-wide, and macroeconomic bottlenecks affecting Zambia's construction sector and offer options for dealing with the key bottlenecks. In particular, we suggest: institutional reforms and legal and regulatory changes governing procurement and contracting rules and systems; training and other capacity-building programmes; greater access for local contractors to existing financing sources, including the Skill Development Levy; a review and update of the local content and subcontracting strategy and policy; and state-supported and -financed/-resourced research and development programmes.

This paper is about understanding the cycle of global copper price booms and busts over Zambia's economic history. We explore how the mining industry has been managed, and wider economic management during boom periods. We find that successive Zambian governments did not use copper revenues to accumulate productive assets, focusing instead on financing consumption subsidies and sustaining inefficient state-owned companies. In recent times, Zambia has accumulated worryingly high levels of sovereign debt with virtually no prospect of official debt relief. Nonetheless, a reasonable chance exists of avoiding debt distress, provided the authorities consistently pursue strong fiscal management and discipline. Ultimately, Zambia's ability to ringfence and prudently use the mineral revenues from copper mining in building productive capacities remains elusive. Instead recurrent consumption expenditure demands dominate the fiscal landscape and the agenda of the fiscal authorities.

"Coming together from across several disciplines, the contributors to this book reflect on the considerable problem of inequality in Zambia, comparing it with other countries both in the region and more broadly. The World Bank consistently ranks Zambia among the countries with the highest levels of poverty and inequality globally, but the problem is not widely studied, and the studies that do exist tend to focus solely on economic measures of inequality. This book uses a multidimensional analysis of inequalities, highlighting the ways in which certain social groups and geographical locations are more likely to suffer multiple inequalities. It investigates key issues around poverty, healthcare, income, law, disability, and power inequalities. Particularly showcasing the work of local researchers, this book will be of interest to researchers of African studies, development, economics and politics."