Party for National Unity (PNU) leader Highvie Hamududu says no parastatal company should be allowed to feed from the treasury anymore and must declare acceptable returns to justify their existence.

And Hamududu warned government authorities not to busk in false hope that Zambia’s economic outlook has stabilised for good.

He told News Diggers in a a statement that the growth and stabilisation plan of the country’s economy, especially on expenditure reforms, needed to continue deepening beyond just the removal of electricity and fuel subsidies.

“Rating agency Moody’s upgrading of Zambia’s economic outlook rating from negative to stable is indicative of Zambia’s economic ability to rise again. But the authorities must be warned not to busk in false hope that the storm is over, it is far from being over. The growth and stabilisation plan must continue to deepen especially on expenditure reforms beyond just the removal of electricity and fuel subsidies. The fiscal path must lead to access of the IMF package as quickly as possible,” Hamududu stated.

He observed that the current economic outlook was driven by external development of copper prices.

“The current stable economic outlook is driven, by and large, by external developments pushing up copper prices. With copper prices on the upswing, government deepening fiscal consolidation and eventual accessibility of the IMF package for balance of payments support, our economy can truly come back on the right track. This must be done at all costs, it is a matter of life and death. There are still low hanging fruits in expenditure reforms to provide a corrective fiscal space to deal with urgent matters such as rolling back the national debt and allocating resources to sectors and programmes that have the highest impact on poverty and inclusive growth,” said Hamududu.

“The parastatals on the other hand must be leveraged to boost foreign direct investment through divestitures. No parastatal should feed from the treasury anymore and must declare acceptable returns to justify their existence. The authorities must stop scattering resources everywhere and must seriously cut government greed. Our colleagues in government must make tough decisions before they are caught in the left foot as time is slowly expiring. We want to see a better economy and improved service delivery. We wish them well.”