Zambia’s President Lungu recently said that his government aims to create 1m additional jobs in the next 5 years in manufacturing, agriculture, infrastructure, tourism, and information and communications.
Lungu made the announcement during his speech to Parliament on September 30th, 2016.
He noted that this will be achieved through the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), an investment company incorporated in 2014 and wholly owned by the Zambian government.
The IDC indicates that the target is to create 550,000 jobs in agriculture, 300,000 in tourism, 85,000 in infrastructure, and 89,000 in manufacturing over the next 5 years.
“As part of our industrialization and job creation agenda, mining will continue to play a key role in our economic growth and diversification to maximize benefits from this sector,” Lungu added.
“In addition government will promote value addition in the sector with a view to obtain more benefits through processed products such as jewelry, cables, and other finished products, for use on the local and international markets,” he added.
Zambia Industrial Development Corporation
The IDC was incorporated in 2014 with a mandate to play a catalytic role in deepening and supporting Zambia’s industrialization capacity to promote job creation and domestic wealth formation across key economic sectors.
The IDC plays its role through evaluation, pricing and lowering the investment risk profile by serving as co-investor alongside private sector investors in Zambia.
The IDC is an active shareholder and investor focused on a broad spectrum of sectors including agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, financial services, mining, energy, telecommunications, logistics, medical, education, tourism, real estate and media.
