Country Information - Zambia

ECONOMIC BACKGROUND Despite progress in privatisation and budgetary reform, Zambia's economy has a long way to go. Privatisation of government-owned copper mines relieved the government from covering mammoth losses generated by the industry and greatly improved the chances for copper mining to return to profitability and spur economic growth. However, low mineral prices have slowed the benefits from privatising the mines and reduced incentives for further private investment in the sector. In late 2000, Zambia was determined to be eligible for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, but Zambia has not yet finalized its Poverty Reduction Strategy paper. Unemployment rates remain high, but GDP growth should continue at about 4%. Inflation should remain close to 20%. (Source: World Factbook, 2002) Click here for Country Map [23kB]

BI-LATERAL TRADE OVERVIEW The value of bi-lateral trade between Zambia and the United States has been on a declining trend over the 6-year period to 2002, and in 2002 resulted in an significant trade surplus in favour of the U.S. of $ $ 27,8 million (2001: $0.3 million). Of particular significance is the fact that Zambia's exports to the U.S. have decreased from $ 55 million to $ 7.5 million over that period, while the country's imports from the U.S. increased from $ 29.3 million to $ 35,7 million in 2002 (2001: $ 15.9 million). Zambia's exports consisted mostly of 'minerals and metals', accounting for approximately 75% of the country's exports to the U.S. in 2002. Imports to Zambia on the other hand were diversified, but were dominated by capital-intensive product categories such as ‘agricultural products’, 'transportation equipment', 'electronic products' and 'machinery'. Of significance is the fact that agricultural imports from the US have increased from $ 0,7 million in 2001 to $ 14 million in 2002 (see link to Country Trade Profile below). Although Zambia qualified for the AGOA 'Wearing Apparel' provisions on December 17, 2001, by the end of 2002 any exports under AGOA were still insignificant. The country is was, at that stage, yet to export any qualifying apparel goods, although it should be noted that Zambia exports virtually no textiles and apparel to the US in 2002. The country is deemed a 'Lesser Developed Country' for AGOA purposes, providing it with a limited opportunity of utilising non-qualifying third country textile inputs in the manufacture of AGOA-eligible apparel exports (at least until September 30, 2004). Detailed bilateral trade data for this country, disaggregated by industry sector, can be accessed by following the link below. Aggregate data featuring all AGOA-eligible countries is updated on this website as soon as new data is published, including ranked AGOA / non-AGOA trade, aggregate trade by industry sector as well as the latest apparel trade data. Click here for Detailed Trade Profile