Zambia is preparing to move its economic policy into a new phase, with the Government seeking to preserve recent macroeconomic stability while putting greater emphasis on investment, production, exports, job creation and household incomes. Finance and National Planning Minister Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane said the country must protect the gains made in stabilising the economy while creating conditions for businesses and households to benefit from stronger economic activity. The shift comes as annual inflation reached 6.2 percent in August 2026, down from 6.5 percent in July, according to the Zambia Statistics Agency. Musokotwane said the next phase of the Grow Zambia Agenda would focus on expanding productive capacity rather than allowing stabilisation to remain the main measure of economic progress. He summarised the approach during an appearance on ZNBC’s Sunday Interview by saying Zambia now needed to “produce, produce, produce and export, export and export.”
Maintaining macroeconomic stability will remain a central part of the Government’s approach. Musokotwane said Zambia must avoid a return to inflation levels of 15 percent to 20 percent and above while maintaining foreign reserves above three months of import cover, managing public debt prudently and sustaining investor confidence. The latest inflation figures provide an important measure of the progress made on price stability, with annual inflation falling to 6.2 percent in August 2026 from 24.4 percent in August 2021. ZamStats reported that the August figure meant prices were, on average, 6.2 percent higher than they were a year earlier, rather than indicating that prices had fallen. The Government’s challenge now is to translate slower price growth and improved macroeconomic conditions into higher production, more investment and stronger incomes.
The production strategy is closely linked to the 10-10-5-3-3-1-1-1 framework announced by President Hakainde Hichilema as part of the Grow Zambia Agenda. The framework sets targets of 10 million tonnes of maize, 10,000 megawatts of electricity capacity, five million tourist arrivals annually, three million tonnes each of copper and soybeans, one million tonnes each of wheat and sugar and at least US$1 billion in annual beef exports. These targets cover several major sectors of the economy and are intended to increase the scale of Zambia’s productive and export capacity. Achieving them would require coordinated investment in agriculture, energy, mining, tourism, manufacturing and supporting infrastructure. The framework therefore places production and export growth at the centre of the Government’s economic plans for the coming years.
Musokotwane said reaching these targets would require government institutions to coordinate land, electricity, roads, irrigation, financing, investment approvals, skills and export corridors around specific projects. Infrastructure will be particularly important because producing more goods does not automatically create export earnings if businesses cannot move products efficiently to domestic and international markets. He cited the rehabilitation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority and development of the Lobito Corridor as examples of infrastructure that could support significantly larger agricultural and mineral exports. Better transport links could also help producers reach markets while reducing some of the logistical costs associated with moving goods across long distances. For Zambia’s production strategy to work at scale, investment in productive capacity therefore needs to be matched by investment in the systems that connect producers to consumers and export destinations.
The Government also intends to increase the role of private capital in financing economic expansion. Musokotwane said Public-Private Partnerships, domestic capital markets, improved domestic resource mobilisation and private investment would increasingly be used to finance infrastructure that supports growth. The approach would allow scarce public resources to be directed towards projects that reduce business costs and improve productivity. Foreign direct investment is also expected to remain important because the Government considers domestic savings insufficient to finance the scale of expansion planned for mining, agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, tourism, energy and transport. Zambian pension funds, businesses, cooperatives, farmers and individual investors are also expected to have opportunities to participate in the expansion of productive sectors.
Agriculture is expected to play an important role because of its potential to create employment and generate income across rural communities and the wider economy. Musokotwane pointed to crops such as soybeans and sugar as examples of agricultural activities that can generate production within relatively short periods compared with longer-term industrial investments. Soybeans can be harvested within about three to four months while sugar can take roughly a year from planting to harvest. The Government also wants farmers to increase productivity through better farming practices and more efficient use of inputs. Musokotwane cited an objective of raising maize production from about 50 bags to 100 or 150 bags using the same four bags of fertiliser, although achieving such gains would depend on farming conditions, agronomic practices, access to inputs and other production factors.
Agricultural input reform is also being presented as part of efforts to direct public support towards genuine beneficiaries. Musokotwane said reforms had removed about 250,000 fake farmers from a beneficiary list that previously contained about 1.21 million people. The change is intended to improve the accuracy of agricultural support programmes and ensure that resources reach eligible farmers. Better targeting could also improve the efficiency of public spending within the agricultural sector. For the production strategy to deliver sustained results, however, increased farm output will also need reliable markets, storage, processing facilities, transport infrastructure, financing and access to export opportunities.
Tax policy will form another part of the Government’s effort to support economic expansion while increasing public revenue. Musokotwane said the focus would be on improving compliance and widening the tax base rather than repeatedly increasing rates on taxpayers who are already compliant. The Government has identified digitalisation, taxpayer registration and enforcement as tools for improving compliance. The Zambia Revenue Authority has also introduced the Extended Voluntary Disclosure Scheme, which runs from September 17 to December 31, 2026. Under the scheme, eligible taxpayers who settle their principal tax liabilities can receive a 100 percent waiver of accrued penalties and interest.
The tax compliance drive is taking place alongside efforts to improve the delivery of approved investments. Musokotwane said major investment projects would be entered into a database and monitored monthly so that approvals do not remain unresolved for extended periods. The stated objective is to reduce delays that can prevent approved projects from moving into construction, production and job creation. This is significant for an economy seeking to attract both domestic and foreign capital because investment decisions depend not only on available opportunities but also on how efficiently projects move through regulatory processes. Faster resolution of approvals could therefore help shorten the period between an investment proposal and actual economic activity, although the effectiveness of the system will depend on implementation and monitoring.
Employment remains one of the main reasons the Government is seeking to accelerate private investment and production. Musokotwane said between 300,000 and 400,000 young people enter Zambia’s labour market each year, creating a need for sustained expansion in sectors capable of absorbing new workers. Agriculture, mining, tourism, manufacturing, forestry, energy and related services have been identified as areas with potential to create employment at scale. The Government’s approach therefore links investment to a broader objective of expanding the number of businesses and productive activities capable of generating jobs. For households, the practical measure of whether the strategy succeeds will be whether more people can secure reliable incomes and whether existing businesses can expand their operations.
Forestry is another area that Musokotwane identified as having potential for large-scale economic activity. He discussed the possibility of establishing commercial forest plantations covering thousands of hectares and developing industries around timber, particle board, veneer, pulp and paper. He referred to South Africa as an example of the employment potential associated with large commercial forestry plantations, although the specific conditions and scale of Zambia’s forestry sector differ. The broader argument is that Zambia could increase the value generated from its natural resources by investing in renewable production systems and processing rather than relying indefinitely on naturally occurring timber resources. Musokotwane warned that resources such as Mukula could be depleted within five to 10 years without sustainable replacement, highlighting the importance of developing productive assets that can support exports over a longer period.
The Government’s broader export strategy is intended to reduce reliance on a narrow range of products while increasing value addition. Copper remains a major export, but the Grow Zambia Agenda also identifies soybeans, beef, wheat, sugar, tourism and forestry as areas where Zambia could expand its international earnings. Recent trade data from ZamStats show that non-traditional export earnings increased by 6.5 percent to K9.9 billion in July 2026, accounting for 33.3 percent of total exports that month. Expanding non-traditional exports could give businesses more opportunities to earn foreign currency while creating demand for farmers, processors, transporters and other suppliers. The strategy therefore links export diversification with employment and wider participation in economic activity.
The Government’s stated objective is ultimately to make economic growth more visible in the daily lives of households and businesses. Musokotwane said the test of the Grow Zambia Agenda would include higher incomes, more jobs, stronger businesses, improved electricity supply, better markets for farmers and stronger public revenues for services such as education, healthcare, infrastructure and the Constituency Development Fund. Higher export earnings could increase foreign exchange inflows while greater business activity could expand employment and the tax base. However, achieving these outcomes will depend on whether planned investments translate into actual production and whether the benefits reach businesses, workers and households across the economy. The shift from stabilisation to production therefore creates a new set of implementation demands for Government, businesses and other economic participants.
Zambia’s economic strategy is consequently entering a phase in which macroeconomic stability is being treated as a foundation for a larger production and investment drive. Inflation at 6.2 percent in August 2026 provides evidence of the improvement in price stability, although it does not mean that household prices have fallen. The next challenge is to convert that stability into productive investment, larger exports, new businesses, stronger employment and higher household incomes. The 10-10-5-3-3-1-1-1 framework provides specific production targets, while the planned use of private capital, infrastructure investment, tax compliance reforms and sector expansion is intended to support them. If the strategy is implemented effectively, the Government’s stated measure of progress will move beyond macroeconomic indicators towards a broader set of outcomes that include how much Zambia produces, how much it exports, how many jobs it creates and how much income reaches households.