Business executive, Jere, claims most promises on investments never redeemed

Copperbelt-based business executive, George Jere, says the Bank of Zambia (BoZ ) should start registering investment pledges and announcements for better economic tracking.

Jere, in an interview in Ndola on Saturday, said most investment pledges by foreign companies were mere pledges whose impact cannot be felt on the local economy.

“There is need for a serious paradigm shift, investors have been pledging and announcing that they have invested or intend to invest this and that much, but there is no correlation on the economy,” he said.

The former General Secretary for the Association of Mine Suppliers and Contractors (AMSC), said recently the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) announced in excess of US$8 billion but bemoaned that no tracking system to trace the pledged investments.

He noted that First Quantum Minerals (FQM) announced US$1.3 billion investments in mine expansion, but that had not been felt on the local economy.

Jere, a former miner said BoZ should work in tandem with ZDA to take stock of all the investment pledges and announcements to ensure that foreign companies do not exaggerate investments.

He observed that most announcements were just on paper because most times than not, there real impact on the ground.

“The more they (foreign investors) pledge, the more key economic fundamental like foreign exchange deteriorates, simply because most of the investments are not real,” Jere said.

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