The Zambia government said it will achieve the seven percent economic growth rate projected for this year despite the global financial turbulence, Zambia Daily Mail reported on Thursday.
Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Felix Mutati, said the boom in economic activities in North Western Province and other parts of the country had given the government confidence in the growth rate expected at this month-end, according to the newspaper.
"The combination of Lumwana Copper Mine and opening of Standard Chartered Bank in the area and other economic activities taking place in the rest of the country gives us confidence in the growth projection and will enable us to meet the Gross Domestic Product growth rate of seven percent this year." he was quoted.
He said the new branch would provide the necessary competition to anchor the economic growth of the country.
"We do know that the turbulence is affecting everyone, we are not left out. We know that the financial sector still remains strong because of satisfactory capitalization of most of the banks, assets and liquidity, so we don't see any banks collapsing," Mutati said.
He said he was confident that more banks would be opened in the country soon due to the resilience of the national economy.
Mutati said on the flip side of the global crisis lay opportunities and the government had put in place economic activities that would ensure the growth of the country. The government would expand infrastructure and would soon sign a long- term agreement with the African Development Bank worth 28 million U.S. dollars.
Mutati said participating banks for the facility would soon be announced.
He said apart from investing in infrastructure and long-term financing, the third strategy was to secure Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and continue with reform efforts in attracting more FDI.