The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) applauds Government under the leadership of His Excellency, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema President of the Republic of Zambia on investment achievements attained in the first two years in office that has risen from US$3.31 in 2021 to about US$37 billion in 2023.
From August 2021 to August 2023, Zambia experienced unprecedented investment inflows from all over the globe which are attributed to the high level engagements initiated by His Excellency President Hichilema y President Hichilema with other world leaders and Business Executives as well as his participation at various business forums around the world. The investment missions by the President coupled with sustainable macroeconomic fundamentals, debt restructuring, business reforms by Government amidst others, have opened many doors making it easier to attract investors into the country.
In the two-year period since the New Dawn Government took office in August 2021, committed investments registered with the ZDA increased to historical and unprecedented levels registering cumulative committed investments of USD37.0 billion in 2023, from of USD 3.31 billion committed investments in 2021. In 2022 committed investments were USD 8.61 billion and significantly increased to USD 25.02 billion in 2023 for the period January to August.
The energy sector attracted the highest value of investment, followed by manufacturing and construction as presented in Table 1. Committed investment in the energy sector increased from USD2.0 billion in 2021, to USD16.1 billion in 2023. This will mitigate against the incidences of electricity load-shedding that was experienced in the country. Similarly in manufacturing committed investment increased to USD7.7 billion in 2023 up from USD 958 million in 2021.
This is evident of improved investor confidence in the domestic economy arising from an improved investment climate and aggressive investment promotion agenda by the Republican President.
The Agency undertakes regular monitoring and evaluation of committed investment projects in order to assess the actualization and/or implementation of companies registered with the ZDA. Out of the committed investments which have been monitored, USD4.7 billion has been actualized. Manufacturing accounted for the highest actualized value of USD1.2 billion, followed by transport amounting to USD965 million and Service USD804.37 million.
Apart from investments, during the period under review the ZDA also monitored actualisation of Investor commitments to create jobs. Out of 132,709 jobs committed, 20,520 jobs have been actualized.
In view of these statistics and trends the ZDA anticipates this positive trajectory to continue its upward trend, given the prevailing stable macro-economic environment, pro-business reforms, private sector driven economic policies, investment promotion and protection, debt restructuring and stable political system in the country.
Issued by
Mr Albert Halwampa
Director General
Zambia Development Agency.
