By JOHN SAKALA
Zesco load shedding has negatively affected the Zambian economy such that the country has registered negative two (-2%) of its projected 2019 Annual Gross Domestic Products (GDP), President Edgar Lungu has said.
In his official address to Parliament today, September 13, 2019, President Lungu said the economy has in the recent past faced some serious headwinds of -2% of the projected 4%.
He said in 2018, the country had recorded 3.7% growth of the GPD but due to the effects of climate change which has equally affected Zesco, the power utility firm, the country’s economy is nosediving.
“Since 2015, when we experienced the drought that affected electricity generation, the growth of the economy has been slowed down to an average of 3.5% between 2015 and 2018 from an upward trend of 6.4% between 2011 and 2014.
“This slowdown was largely attributed to climate change variabilities. To have a meaningful impact on the high poverty levels in the country, we must grow the economy at the minimum rate of seven per cent per year. The emphasis must be on green growth which entails staking a path of economic growth that uses natural resources in a sustainable manner,” he said.
President Lungu was officially opening the fourth session of the Twelfth National Assembly under the theme, ‘Accelerating sustainable development for a better Zambia amidst the impact of climate change.’
