De inkomsten voor Zambia uit export van koper is in het vierde kwartaal van 2009 sterk gestegen van $ 666,7 mln in 2008 naar $ 984 mln in 2009. Ook kobalt ging omhoog, maar minder spectaculair, van $ 45 naar $ 63 mln. Zambia is de grootste koperexporteur / producent van Afrika. Zambia is voor het verwerven van vreemde valuta voor 60%afhankelijk van koper.Toch kreeg de regering minder belasting binnen uit de kopersector ten gevolge van de afschaffing van de "windfall"belasting ($ 77 mln i.p.v. $ 128 mln).
The central bank said copper export earnings rose to $984,6-million in the fourth quarter of 2009 versus $666,7-million in the same period in 2008 and cobalt export earnings were at $63,6-million from $45,3-million in 2008.
Zambia is Africa's top producer of copper and the industry is the mainstay of the economy, accounting for more than 60% of the country's foreign currency earnings.
Zambia's total export earnings reached $1,3-billion in the three months to December 2009 compared with $910,1-million in the same period the previous year, the central bank said in its review of the fourth quarter.
Due to the jump in export earnings the trade balance for the fourth quarter of 2009 registered a surplus of $311.6 million compared with a deficit of $88,9-million in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Despite higher export earnings, revenue from the mining sector fell to $77,7-million in 2009 compared with $128,4-million the previous year after the government changed tax rules and some mining companies scaled down operations.
Zambia last year abolished a 25% mineral windfall tax and Mines Minister Maxwell Mwale said the government had no plans to reintroduce it despite pressure to do so.
"The drop in tax revenues paid by mining companies was largely as a result of the global financial crisis, which forced most of them to scale down their operations," central bank Governor Caleb Fundanga said at a briefing.
Fundanga said the economy is likely to grow by 7% this year in part due to a recovery in copper exports. "They (foreign borrowers) were borrowing in kwacha at very high interest rates and then buying the foreign exchange, which they later sold, creating distortions."
Reuters
