PRIVATE SECTOR STIMULATION WILL DRIVE JOB CREATION ON - ZIPARPRIVATE SECTOR STIMULATION WILL DRIVE JOB CREATION ON - ZIPAR
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ZIPAR Executive Director Dr. Herrick Mpuku
ZIPAR Executive Director Dr. Herrick Mpuku

BY CYNTHIA NKHATA

The Zambia institute for Policy Analysis and Research, ZIPAR has emphasized that it is the stimulation of the private sector that will drive the creation of jobs.

Speaking at the ZIPAR analysis of the national budget theme , “Transforming though inclusive growth-achieving a balanced recovery”, ZIPAR Executive Director Dr. Herrick Mpuku says shifting of resources and responsibility to the constituency development funds where job creation will be taken to the constituency level as local projects are fulfilled by the people in those areas.

Dr. Mpuku said ZIPAR recognizes the effort by government to mitigate the social hardship of the majority of the community through appropriate interventions which lead to self sustenance.

He observed that while the move to provide free education is commendable, the structure in income for schools poses a risk to their operations.

He said the loss in income from tuition fees and PTA contributions implies that schools will now have to wait for disbursement of grants from the government, as opposed to the current situation in which schools fees are directly collected by learners and monies are readily available for use.

” It will be important to reverse the trend of poor budget execution and late disbursements and to have enhanced implementation and predictability and regularity of payments so that schools operations will not be at risk of being crippled if the grant commitments are not fully met and disbursements are not made in a timely manner,” He said.

” As debt servicing costs have increased over the years, social sector expenditure has been characterised by poor budget execution and late disbursements programmes such as the social cash transfers that rely on periodic disbursements,” He stated.

He added that the 2022 budget reflects an increase commitment to the social sectors with significant nominal increases to education, health, social protection, wash and nutrition sectors.

He said the increased allocations have far-reaching benefits, particularly for women and children.

He said to meet the social sector aspirations in 2022 in the midst of high debt burden and tight fiscal space, government will need to improve budget out-turns by ring-fencing social sector budgets and exploring additional financing mechanisms.

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