PF govt most incompetent ever – Dr Musumali
By Staff Reporter
Ruling Patriotic Front government is the most incompetent the country has ever had, opposition Socialist Party leader Dr. Cosmas Musumali has said.
Dr Musumuli who is also an economist said the PF government was not committed to fiscal consolidation.
“It was apparent almost three years ago that decisive fiscal measures were urgently required to stabilise the economy. However, political expediency ruled out any timely intervention,” he said. “Despite mounting exogenous shocks due to the fall of copper prices, the PF fiscal policy remained laxly. Instead of a fiscal consolidation, reckless spending, funded through enhanced borrowing, became the norm. We are dealing with the most incompetent government this country has ever produced.”
Dr Musumali said corruption ridden infrastructure rehabilitation programme was implemented without recourse to the changing and dire economic situation the economy had found itself in.
He expressed concern that the appetite for luxurious and unnecessary spending went unchecked with the parasitic relationship of the ruling elite on the state coffers.
Dr Musumali said it was unfortunate that the PF government objected to any form of fiscal consolidation before the August 2016 elections as it was viewed as a high risk to their electoral victory.
“This proved disastrous for the economy. To maintain any semblance of sanity, monetary policy had to be out-stretched. Tight liquidity and the use of administrative measures, in the absence of complimentary fiscal measures, led to a liquidity crunch and added immense stress on the banking sector. The proportion of Nonperforming loans rose; Industry and the masses of the Zambian people were also severely impacted,” he explained.
Dr Musumali said public debt was allowed to grow unchecked and within a period of three years, some extra $3 billion were added to the external debt whilst high domestic borrowing continued to crowd out lending to the private sector.
He said one year after the 2016 elections, fiscal policy is still ambivalent, murky and indecisive and continues to create uncertainties.
“This is not conducive for securing sustainable livelihoods for the Zambian masses. Neither is it sending the appropriate signals for the much hyped about private investment and growth,” Dr Musumali said.
