ZAMBIA’S LOWER MIDDLE INCOME STATUS ANALYSED

Zambia’s lower middle income nation rating risks getting eroded as the copper prices continue to plummet on the international market.

Early in the year, the World Bank bestowed Zambia with the status of being a lower middle-income status, despite entrenched poverty in rural areas.

The bank’s decision was largely due to the high copper prices and without much regard to

population dynamics and other income factors like equality.

During the year, Zambia also got a B-plus Credit Rating, a development which without doubt boosted international investor confidence.

But a recent Ministry of Finance and National Planning policy statement has observed that the recent turbulent trend of copper prices renders this status questionable.

According to the latest Living Conditions Monitoring Surveys conducted from 1991 to 2006, there are still significant levels of poverty.

The results show that the incidence of poverty declined from 70 percent in 1991 to 67 percent in 2006.

The gains of this reduction can be noticed in rural areas, where the incidence of poverty reduced from 88 percent in 1991 to 78 percent in 2006.

In contrast, the incidence of poverty in urban areas increased from 49 percent in 1991 to 53 percent in 2006.

Though indicating reduced poverty levels over the years, official statistics show that an average family still lives on just about a dollar every day.

The modal income group for the country ranges from K 150,000 to K 300,000, representing 26 percent of the estimated 13 million population.
Meanwhile, only about 53 per cent households have mean monthly incomes that exceeded K 300, 000.