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Showing all content in Zambia
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Blog post
One year on: Zambian economy during COVID-19
On 18 March 2020, Zambia reported its first COVID-19 case. One year later, like the rest of the world, the pandemic has had unprecedented effects on many aspects of life. The economic effects have been particularly significant, most aptly demonstrated at the macro level by Zambia becoming the world’s first COVID-19-era sovereign debt default. The COVID-19 policy...
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Project
Harnessing the power of electronic fiscal devices
Low tax compliance is a major challenge in most developing countries, including Zambia. Many governments have adopted a Value Added Tax (VAT) to increase tax revenues and VAT is now responsible for up to a quarter of total revenues in developing countries (Keen, 2016). The key benefit of VAT is that it is self-enforcing along the supply chain. Firms have a financial...
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Project
Zambian youth unemployment in industries without smokestacks
Zambia has high rates of unemployment and is overly dependent on mining for growth and foreign exchange. In 2018, the unemployment rate was 12.6 percent and the youth unemployment rate was 17.4 percent. With a growing population, this issue will only become worse without intervention and growth in labour-absorbing sectors of the economy. This study researches...
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Publication - Working Paper
Deepening decentralisation in Zambia: Identifying political economy constraints to reform
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Blog post
Tourism and COVID-19 in Zambia
COVID-19 is a real threat to Zambia’s tourism sector and there is a high risk that many firms will shut down and disappear, undermining any ultimate economic recovery when international travel resumes. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has warned that the COVID-19 pandemic could cut 50 million jobs worldwide in the travel and tourism industry. The industry,...
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Blog post
The structural constraints limiting Zambia’s economic response to COVID-19
Health pandemics, like other calamities, are great revealers. Not only do they come at a colossal cost to human life, but often expose and lay bare the structural problems riddling an economy. The COVID-19 pandemic is emblematic of this. It has affected 184 countries around the world with preliminary estimates indicating that it will cost the global economy at least USD 1...
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Blog post
Increasing tariffs to prevent another electricity crisis in Zambia
Zambia’s state-owned power utility company, ZESCO, is consistently struggling to meet demand, plunging Zambia into one electricity crisis after another. The Government of Zambia’s acceptance of ZESCO’s application to increase tariffs is a step in the right direction. Access to reliable power remains a problem across sub-Saharan Africa. The latest data from the World...
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Publication - Policy Brief
Civil service reform and performance management in Ghana and Zambia since 1990
Both Zambia and Ghana have tried repeatedly since 1990 to link civil servants’ performance to incentives by introducing performance management systems. Despite these efforts, there have been no cases in either country where individual performance has been successfully and sustainably linked to rewards or sanctions. To understand patterns of individual performance,...
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Blog post
Do civil service performance incentives work: Evidence from Ghana and Zambia
“The problem with government is that bureaucrats don’t have any incentive to perform well.” If you’ve spent much time working in or with governments in low- or middle-income countries, you’ve almost certainly heard this lament many times – and maybe even said it yourself. The idea is simple, intuitive, and powerful: People aren’t performing well; people...
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Publication - Working Paper
Civil service reform and performance management in Ghana and Zambia since 1990