Zambia to miss targeted 5% growth in 2024 due to drought, says Finance Minister

Situmbeko Musokotwane, Finance and National Planning Minister, has announced that Zambia will not achieve the more than five percent growth target set for in 2024 due to drought.

Speaking during the mid-year budget review performance in Lusaka on Wednesday, Musokotwane noted that 2024 had been challenging primarily because of the drought.

He explained that while the country had previously faced challenges such as COVID-19 and cholera, these were largely behind them, but that the drought has had a more profound impact on the economy.

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“The main factor for this is the drought,” Musokotwane said.

He said they had anticipated that the economy would grow by more than five percent after four percent last year.

“However, due to the drought, the expected growth has now been reduced to 2.3 percent,” Musokotwane said.

He added that the economy had shown an upward trajectory since 2022, with modest growth that year followed by fairly strong growth in 2023.

However, the drought has hindered the expected strong growth for 2024.

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