Remoteness makes Zambia’s Liuwa and Bangweulu valuable and vulnerable. High operating costs, fragile access, who loses first and the reforms required.
Section
Economics
The US$200m Holiday: How Zambia’s Fuel-Tax Relief Burned Through the Treasury
Zambia’s suspension of VAT and excise on fuel cost the Treasury about US$200m, as Musokotwane urged disciplined fiscal policy and warned of an energy-crisis
The Cobalt Gap: Why Zambia Exported More Than It Mined, 2019–2024
Zambia produced 1,401 tonnes of cobalt from 2019 to 2024 but exported about 1,876.7 — a gap rooted in by-product geology, weak copper output and data
The Governance Test Behind Lower Zambezi: Tourism, Conservation and Development Pressure
Zambia’s Lower Zambezi pits short-term extractive investment against a lasting tourism landscape. The trade-off, the excluded and the reforms the valley needs.
Reborn in Kabwe: How a US$140m Bet Links Cotton Farms to Mulungushi’s Looms
Mulungushi Textiles reopened in Kabwe on a US$140m investment, linking 2,500 cotton farmers to 500+ mill jobs and military and health-worker uniform orders.
Lights On: How Zambia’s 24-Hour Economy Unlocks Logistics — and Fuel-Price Risk
Zambia lifted its night-travel ban on trucks and buses on 1 April 2026 to power a 24-hour economy, unlocking logistics gains shadowed by fuel-price risk.
Chinese zones: A modest base for Africa’s export story
Chinese industrial zones are cast as engines of Africa’s export ambitions, but the recorded jobs and investment are modest, and the zones matter more as a template than a triumph.
Industrial parks: Value-chain infrastructure, or just serviced land
Industrial parks are sold as value-chain infrastructure, but a fenced plot with power and a road is only real estate until firms cluster and a supply chain forms inside it.
Trade fairs as pipelines: turning expo handshakes into SME orders
A four-day expo can announce billions in deals. The harder question is how many of those handshakes survive contact with shipping schedules, payment terms and a small firm’s first export.