Patriots for Economic Progress releases alternative budget for 2024, proposes to spend K183.4 billion

The Patriots for Economic Progress (PEP) has released an alternative 2024 national budget, proposing to spend a total of over K183.4 billion for the fiscal year or 33.4 percent of the projected Gross Domestic Product.

Party president, Sean Tembo, said out of the total of K183,412,858,561 proposed national budget, K129,361,500,061 would be financed by tax revenues.

Presenting the 2024 alternative national budget in Lusaka on Thursday, Tembo stated that the balance of K54,051,358,501 would be financed by non-tax revenue.

He proposed that there be no additional contraction of either domestic debt or foreign debt for purposes of financing the 2024 national budget.

“The alternative macroeconomic objectives for 2024 are hinged on the Manifesto of the Patriots for Economic Progress,” Tembo stressed.

The party leader emphasized that this seeks to diversify the economy towards three principal sectors being agriculture, tourism and audio-visual entertainment.

He said the 2024 alternative budget was “Addressing the Basic Needs of the People While Pursuing Long-Term Economic Goals”.

Tembo stated that the theme underscored the fact that Zambia’s current and past economic problems primarily arose from the poor management of the natural resources the country has.

“In order to defeat our economic problems and rise as a prosperous nation that is devoid of poverty and squalor among its citizens, we do not need to borrow from anyone, we do not need an IMF bailout package, we do not need handouts from the international community,” he said.

Tembo noted that what was needed was to prudently manage the resources so as to achieve sustainable growth and development for ourselves.

Read More: The current high cost of living which has hit many Zambians has prompted government to focus its energy on addressing it in the presentation of the 2024 national budget.

He emphasized the need to create a conducive business environment that would allow the formation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as their subsequent growth into large enterprises.

“We need to be able to convert our huge economic potential into actual wealth for the benefit of the people,” Tembo said.

The PEP leader also proposed the cancellation of all tax holidays which had been imposed on the mining sector as a means to increase revenue collection effort.

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