Zambia Business Confidence declines in Q1

The overall Business Confidence Index in Q1 of 2019 (January to April 2019) has decreased according to the ZACCI Business Confidence survey conducted on 239 members of ZACCI across all sectors. From the confidence of 161.4 points in Q4 of 2018, business confidence has substantially decreased by 137.8 points to 23.6 points in Q1 of 2019. This implies negative sentiments about the business environment. The main
reasons that led to the decline in the BCI include the depreciation of the kwacha, low sales due to reduced demand, delayed payments by Government, poor liquidity and increased competition from foreign goods. Other factors that contributed to the decrease in the BCI were policy inconsistency, lost contracts to supply the mines, particularly in the Copperbelt and poor rain fall especially in Southern Province.