Zambia sees lower 2015 budget deficit due to higher royalties

 

Zambia plans to narrow its budget deficit in 2015, helped by changes to the mining tax regime which should boost revenue.

Presenting a 46.7 billion kwacha ($7.4 billion) to parliament on Friday, Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda forecast higher economic growth next year, citing a good farm harvest, as well as increased power generation and manufacturing output.

According to Reuters, the budget shortfall in Africa's second largest copper producer would edge lower to 4.6 percent of GDP in 2015 from a projected 5.5 percent this year, while the economy would grow by 7 percent, up from 6.5 percent.

Revenue would rise to 18.5 percent of gross domestic product from an expected 17.2 percent for 2014, Chikwanda said.

Domestic revenue would finance 75.2 percent of the budget, which changes to the mining tax seen adding 1.7 billion Zambian kwacha ($269 million) to the collection.