Facts and figures

Background

Zambia is a sub-tropical country situated on the central African plateau with a surface area of 752,000 square kilometres, 11,890 of which is water. The weather in Zambia is pleasant, with average temperatures of between 6 and 35 degrees Celsius. The country experiences three distinct seasons - a cool dry season from May to August, a hot dry season from September to November and a hot wet season form December to April. Zambia has amongst the lowest population densities in Africa with a (youthful) population of just over 10.4 million. It is highly urbanised, with one-fifth of the population residing in and around the capital city of Lusaka and another one-fifth on the 'Copperbelt' province, so called because of the copper mines in this region whose main urban centres are Kitwe and Ndola.

Zambia enjoys a liberal, pro-business multi-party democracy with the rule of law and respect for human rights as the fundamental tenets. The judiciary is autonomous and separate from the executive and legislative arms of Government. The legal system is based mostly on English common and customary law.

The mining of copper and cobalt, and associated industries has been the mainstay of the Zambian economy and has traditionally driven its economic growth. However, the country is trying to diversify to tourism and agriculture.

The Economy

Zambia in the main pursues market-oriented economic policies with no exchange controls on current and capital transactions. Recent economic performance is summarised below:

Key economic indicators 2001 to 2004:

Indicator
Actual
2001
Actual
2002
Actual
2003
Target
2004
Economic growth
5.2%
3%
4.3%
3.5%
Inflation
18.7%
26.7%
17.2%
15%
Budget deficit
4.7% of GDP
3.3% of GDP
5% of GDP
2% of GDP
Reserve build-up
(Growth)
Dropped by US $150 million
US $149 million
1.3 months import cover
1.5 months import cover
Source: Minister of Finance and National Planning budget speeches


Performance of major economic sectors have been as follows:

Sector
2001
2003
2003
 Agriculture
5%
(4.1%)
(2.6%)
Mining and Quarrying
3.3%
16%
14%
Tourism
2.2%
4.7%
24.7%
Manufacturing
6.3%
5.8%
4.2%
Construction
13.9%
17.4%
11.5%
Transport, storage and communication
N/A
5.4%
2.8%
Source: Minister of Finance and National Planning budget speeches
N/A: Data not available

The GDP was US$ 4.3 billion in 2003 and the GNI per capita was US$ 380.