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PANGEA-RISK published a special report on ZAMBIA: NEW PRESIDENT’S ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN TAKES POLITICAL TURN, which examines how the much-needed anti-graft campaign, a pillar of the reforming president’s policy platform, is increasingly vulnerable to manipulation as economic reforms have stalled. The report analyses the knock-on effects for international investors, for whom business risk in Zambia is increasing.
Based on analysis of contract and economic data, impatient and powerful political and business backers of the new government are increasing pressure to secure lucrative economic stakes in the mining and agricultural sectors, including fertiliser contracts, that risk uprooting the government’s pro-investor credentials. President Hichilema is now torn between pushing ahead with his reformist legacy or giving way to his loyalists’ intentions to resume looting of state assets.
Robert Besseling, CEO of PANGEA-RISK, said: “Expectations for the new Hichilema government remain high even now, three months after his election. However, the reality of the challenges facing Zambia has constrained his ability to act on key issues, including economic reform and his much-heralded anti-corruption drive. Hichilema needs to ensure that his anti-graft efforts remain objective and do not take on the features of a political or tribal purge, otherwise he will lose the goodwill that his reforming message has earned from both domestic and international observers.”
Based on the latest data, PANGEA-RISK assesses the future of Zambia’s economic reform and anti-corruption programme, identifying risk and vulnerabilities that may derail Hichilema’s reformist agenda. The report assesses that Hichilema’s election remains a prime opportunity to clean up Zambia’s economic and business environment.
About:
PANGEA-RISK is a specialist intelligence firm providing analysis and forecasts on political, security, and economic risk in Africa and the Middle East. The company was founded in 2015 as EXX Africa, rebranded as PANGEA-RISK in 2020, and has since become a leading risk advisory and consultancy with a broad network of clients ranging from DFIs, banks, traders, corporates, and insurers, to governments, counterterrorism, and military forces worldwide.
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