Zambia, a resource rich country in Africa which takes its name from the Might Zambezi River,

the fourth-longest river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa.
Zambia is formerly called Northern Rhodesian as an integral part of Cecil Rhodes’ Cape to Cairo
Vision. Its a home of the spectacular and majestic Victoria Falls also known as ‘’Mosi-o-Tunya’’
(The smoke that thunders), one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and the largest water
falls in the world surpassing the magnificent Niagara and Iguazu Falls. The falls offers you a
breath taking views that are almost too spectacular and stunning to describe.

Zambia economy is a commodity dependent mostly driven by minerals especially copper in

which It’s the Second largest producer in Africa after the Democratic Republic of Congo and 8 th
in the world with the production 861,946.19 tonnes as at 2018.Is this country a bed of minerals,
like Gold, Uranium, Manganese, silver, cobalt, coal, lead, zinc and emeralds and other
semiprecious gemstones and cobalt that it’s not talking advantage of?
(https://www.azomining.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=89). Besides the minerals, the country has
42 million hectares of land suitable for agriculture production yet only 14% is being utilized. The
available land per capita is higher than it is for most developing countries in southern Africa
(World Bank ,2018).The country also holds about 35% of southern Africa total natural water
resource. Its major exports are Raw copper, Refined Copper,Cobalt, Raw Tobbaco , cereals and
its major imports are Cooper ore,Cobalt Oxide and Hydroxides, Refined Petroleum, Crude
Petroleum and Nitrogenous Fertilizers. As at 2017 the country exported $8.16 million and
imported $8.77 million causing a negative trade balance of $0.61.As at August 2019 the
country’s inflation rate stands at 9.3% from 7.9% in December 2018 and economic growth rate
is projected to close at 2% at the end of 2019 (KPMG 2019)

The country is currently battling with external debt which has kept increasing to US$10.23 and
domestic debt to US$ 4.62 billion as at June 2019.The external debt servicing cost has also gone
up to US$759 million in 2018.The four main external debt categories are Multilateral, Bilateral,
Export and Supplier credit and Commercial debt of which Commercial debt is at 53 % which is
the country’s biggest headache. Eurobonds account for 57% of the commercial debt and its first
maturity will be in 2022 after Population census in 2020 and general election in 2021.(ZIPAR
2019)