Japan's Toyota allegedly plans to set up a mega fertiliser production plant in Zambia. According to Zambia'a Ambassador to Japan Mwelwa Chibesakunda, Toyota is keen invest in agro input production in Zambia, as part of its diversifcation programme away from its traditional car manufacturing.

About three weeks ago, officials from Toyota Japan allegedly met Mr Chibesakunda and told him that they were interested in investing in Zambia's agriculture sector by setting up the fertiliser manufacturing plant. He says the investors have already been to the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ), the country's only local fertiliser producing firm in Kafue, to look at the facility which has been struggling financially.

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President Michael Sata recently pardoned and set free 615 prisoners countrywide as part of the African Freedom Day commemoration. This now brings to nearly 4,000 the number of prisoners PF has released on the streets! The releases have been usually on Africa Freedom day or independence day.

On its first independence day in power 2011, the Sata government freed people who were allegedly imprisoned "over minor wildlife-related offences". In Mr Sata's words, "as we celebrate 47 years of our independence, I have extended a gesture of goodwill to these people by pardoning a total of 673 prisoners, majority of whom were jailed over these minor wildlife-related cases".

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ZAMPOST is finally on the road to recovery. The company which has previously been plagued by inefficiency and corruption recently announced that it has recorded a profit of KR 1.35 million for the first time since 1994.

Postmaster general McPherson Chanda says the parastatal has been able to enter the black due to the ongoing innovations that have been introduced on the market in addition to improvements in the company's service delivery. He attributes the success to change in management style :

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The current Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2013-15 has a rather interesting line: "Personal emoluments in the medium term, as a share of GDP, are projected to decline from 9.1 percent in 2013 to 8.8 percent in 2015. The spending pattern on personal emolument is consistent with Government's strategy to contain the wage bill within sustainable levels and ensure sufficient fiscal space for developmental programmes" (Source: MTEF 2013-15).

Someone forgot about this line because in March 2013 there was a bumper pay rise for civil servants with some (not all) getting as high as 200 percent effective September 1, 2013. Leonard Hikaumba, president of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions, revealed then that on average most workers will get increases of 40 percent to 50 percent.

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Another presentation from the Zambia's first ever Emeralds International Conference held last month. This presentation is from the Zambia Revenue Authority. It has a useful chart on the main sources of tax revenue in this sector. Predictably, Kagem appears to pay 80% of the tax revenue. One gets the sense that the biggest challenge for Government is to deal with illegal traders not showing in the numbers. Unfortunately, there appears little activity on that front.

Copyright © Zambian Economist 2013

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The North-West Railways project appears to be on the verge of being realised. Government will soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with promoters of North-Western Railway to pave way for the start of vonstruction of railway line in the mining region to ease transportation of copper and other goods.

North-West Rail project is promoted by a group of Zambians, who hold 65 percent shares under North-west Rail Company (NWR) with Enoch Kavindele as CEO, 20 percent shares held by three Americans, five percent shares from United Kingdom and 10 percent shares by South Africans.

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The Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) recently approved 34 mining, energy and manufacturing / processing projects.

Among projects approved in the mining sector include : Vikram Investments Limited (Chongwe), Chiteta Mining Company (Chongwe), Metalco industries Limited in Mumbwa, Zambezi Natural Stone (Siavonga), Grizzly Investments Holding Limited (Lufwanyama), Mining Company Limited (Mpongwe), Huayuan Mining Limited (Solwezi), Bresmar Investment Limited (Solwezi) and Qiuzhang Investment Company (Solwezi).

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Government plans to widen its School Feeding Programme. The existing GRZ programme as so far only provided food for a paltry 800, 000 school children across the country, over the last 10 years - against an estimated 3.1 million vulnerable school children annually that need to be on the programme.

One of our readers, a teacher in Mwinilunga, reports that year his school has received 56 25KG bag of mealie meal. This year they recieved 56KG bag of maize and 36 2.5liters of cooking oil. It is regared as a helpful programme to learners who come to school "with an empty stomach". In his words, "even absentism has reduced because pupils come to school knowing that they will eat". The programme at that school has has been funded by WFO, UNCDF, UNESCO, PAM in collaboration with GRZ.

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Government recently purchased over 200 ambulances and medical equipment that will be distributed to all hospitals and other health facilities throughout the country. Deputy Health Minister Christopher Mulenga says the ambulances, utility vehicles and medical equipment will start arriving in the country in June. The resources are "aimed at enhancing referral health services and efficiency in the delivery of health services throughout the country".

This is welcome development. It is shocking that there is no adequate medical response system. The issue is most acute for road accidents where victims bleed because no medical personnel arrive on the accident scene. The question of course is whether this is enough?

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A UK's Financial Times article says demand for emeralds is on the up, with jewellers such as David Morris and Bulgari confirming that the green gemstones are fast becoming a popular alternative to white diamonds. According to statistics from the UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database, sales of diamonds have been slowing while those of emeralds and other coloured gemstones have been mounting significantly in recent years.

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