Ban use of dollar in pricing

The sixth Zambia International Business Advisory Council (ZIBAC) has recommended that a statutory instrument be issued to ban the practice by local businesses to quote their prices in US dollars. The ZIBAC conference said there was need to ban businesses from quoting their prices in dollars because it demeaned the local currency.

According to resolutions read out by conference convenor Evans Chibiliti, Zambia also needs to expedite implementation of the business licensing report and increase resources devoted to tourism marketing. It was resolved that the Zambia Wildlife Authority and tourism department should quickly be restructured.

Zambia should urgently complement investment in extension services, research, rural roads and irrigation in order for it to achieve meaningful economic progress. ZIBAC also called for a predictable export policy, especially for food grains and to improve land tenure systems and security of title.

With regard to infrastructure enhancement, it was recommended that there should be cost-effective tariffs at Zesco, while managing it commercially, reviewing efficiency and reviewing the firm’s salary structure. On petroleum, creating a tax regime to contribute to an enabling environment and establishing sufficient petroleum storage capacity across the country for a uniform pricing are necessary.

In telecommunications, there is need to submit three Information communication and technology bills to Parliament by August 2009 and to reduce international gateway fees by December 2009.

The gathering also said government should formulate a responsive business model and restructuring for a viable competitive company to commence by June 2009, besides addressing the cost of restructuring. And ZIBAC also recommended revamping operations of bulk transportation through railway and called for infrastructure rehabilitation.

RB announces ZIBAC meeting for Livingstone

President Rupiah Banda on May 18 says the 6th Zambia International Business Advisory Council (ZIBAC) will be convene in Livingstone from May 19 to 21, 2009. He says the 6th ZIBAC meeting, would be held at the Zambezi Sun in Livingstone, would comprise a team of ten high-level business leaders from different countries and business sectors led by Lord Simon Cairns. He says the theme of this year’s ZIBAC meeting is “The Global Economic Crisis: Zambia’s Response to Growth and Competitiveness.”

President Banda will officially open the ZIBAC meeting May 20 and would later chair some sessions before returning to Lusaka. The ZIBAC process was used in the past to identify key priorities and action plans to address issues such as telecoms policy, labour reforms, and private public partnerships for infrastructure development, citizen’s economic empowerment and mining agreements.

The 6th ZIBAC meeting would take place over three-days with a restricted number of participants that would include the President, selected Cabinet Ministers, Business Representatives, Cooperating Partners and International Advisors.

ZIBAC was created in 2003 to provide advise to the President of the Republic of Zambia and his Cabinet through the support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), other Donors and the Commonwealth Business Council.