For Zambia, a rise in US government bond yields is more than a Wall Street development. It can influence how expensive it becomes for the country to borrow abroad, how investors price Zambian assets and how much pressure the kwacha faces against the dollar.The yield on the US 30-year Treasury rose to around 5.44% on Thursday, its highest level since 2004, while the benchmark 10-year yield climbed above 5.1%.The move matters because US Treasury yields form a reference point for borrowing costs across much of the global financial system. When those yields rise, emerging markets such as Zambia can face higher financing costs even when their own domestic interest rates have not changed.The immediate trigger was a combination of stronger-than-expected US economic activity, expectations of further Federal Reserve tightening and rising oil prices.For Zambia, however, the bigger question is what a prolonged period of higher global interest rates means for a country still rebuilding its fiscal and external position after years of debt stress.<h3>Why Zambia should pay attention</h3>US Treasury securities sit at the centre of the global financial system. They are widely used as a benchmark for pricing other forms of debt.When Treasury yields rise, investors can demand higher returns from riskier assets as well.For an emerging market such as Zambia, that can increase the cost of accessing international capital.A Zambian government or company seeking to borrow in international markets does not compete with US Treasuries on equal terms. Investors generally demand an additional risk premium for lending to countries perceived to carry greater economic, currency or credit risk.If the underlying US interest rate rises, the overall cost of borrowing can therefore increase even if Zambia's own risk premium remains unchanged.<h3>The dollar channel</h3>Higher US yields can also make dollar-denominated assets more attractive to international investors.That can contribute to capital moving towards US markets and away from some emerging markets.For Zambia, movements in the dollar are particularly important because much of the country's external debt and international trade is denominated in foreign currencies.A stronger dollar can increase the local-currency cost of servicing dollar-denominated obligations and make imports more expensive.The effect is not automatic. Exchange rates also depend on copper export receipts, domestic monetary policy, foreign-exchange supply and demand, inflation and investor confidence.<h3>Copper provides a counterweight</h3>Zambia has an important advantage that many emerging markets do not: copper.Strong copper prices can increase export earnings and foreign-exchange inflows, providing support for the kwacha and improving the country's external position.But copper cannot completely shield Zambia from global financial conditions.If international interest rates remain elevated, investors may still become more selective about emerging-market assets. The country can therefore benefit from stronger commodity revenues while simultaneously facing a more expensive global financing environment.<h3>The debt lesson</h3>The latest Treasury move also underlines why Zambia's debt restructuring is only one part of the country's long-term financing challenge.Even after restructuring, future borrowing will be priced against prevailing international interest rates and the risk investors attach to Zambia.This makes fiscal discipline, export earnings, foreign-exchange reserves and the credibility of economic policy important determinants of future borrowing costs.For policymakers, the implication is straightforward: Zambia cannot influence the Federal Reserve, but it can influence how exposed the country is to changes in global financial conditions.The rise in US Treasury yields is therefore a reminder that Zambia's economic fortunes are shaped not only by what happens in Lusaka or Copperbelt mining towns, but also by decisions made in Washington and movements in global capital markets.When the price of money rises in America, emerging markets eventually feel it — and Zambia is no exception.

US Bond Yields Rise, Putting Zambia on Notice

No number in the Zambian economy is watched more closely, or understood less carefully, than the kwacha-dollar rate. It is quoted in kwacha per dollar, which means the line going up is the kwacha going down — a source of endless confusion in headlines that should know better. [[chart:kwacha-dollar]]The currency's path over the period above splits into three distinct regimes, each with its own driver: the commodity cycle, the debt restructuring timetable, and the seasonal pattern of import demand that tightens the market in the same months every year.<h3>Why it matters beyond the traders</h3>Roughly a third of the Zambian consumer basket is imported or priced off an imported input. Fuel is the obvious channel, but fertiliser, pharmaceuticals and most manufactured goods follow the same arithmetic. A weaker kwacha is an inflation forecast with a two-to-three month lag.Every chart in this piece is drawn from the KSJ economic database and refreshes as new monthly data is published.

The exchange rate is the single price that touches every other price in Zambia. Here is where it has been.

The Kwacha's Year: Five Charts on a Currency Under Pressure

Every fortnight the Bank of Zambia auctions Treasury bills, and every fortnight a small number of people read the results very carefully. Here is why the rest of the country should care. [[chart:yield-curve-tbills]]A yield is simply the return the government has to promise to get investors to lend it money for a fixed period. When the 91-day yield rises, the government is paying more to borrow for three months — usually because banks have better things to do with their kwacha, or because they expect inflation to erode what they get back.<h3>The spread is the story</h3>The gap between short and long yields is where the information lives. A steep curve — long rates well above short ones — says the market expects growth and tolerable inflation. A flat or inverted curve says the opposite, and it says it earlier than most official forecasts do.These charts read directly from the KSJ economic database, which carries monthly Zambian macro data going back to 2011.

Treasury bill yields, bond yields and the spread between them — a plain-English guide to the most quoted numbers in Lusaka finance.

Reading the Yield Curve: What Zambia's Borrowing Costs Are Signalling

A Winning Fiscal Strategy for Zambia: From Ministry-Centric Budgeting to Provincial Equity

&nbsp;Zambia is set to join a new J.P. Morgan benchmark for frontier-market government bonds, giving its kwacha-denominated debt greater visibility among international institutional investors.J.P. Morgan plans to launch the Government Bond Index–Emerging Markets Edge (GBI-EM Edge) by the end of September, covering nearly US$330 billion in local-currency government debt across 26 frontier economies.African markets are expected to account for almost 45 percent of the index, according to an investor note reviewed by Reuters. Zambia, alongside markets including Angola, Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria, is among the African countries expected to qualify.For Zambia, the significance is less about an immediate injection of foreign capital and more about gaining a place on a benchmark watched by global fixed-income investors.J.P. Morgan's bond indices are used by asset managers to measure portfolio performance and, in some cases, construct investment portfolios. Inclusion can therefore place Zambian government securities in front of investors who may not otherwise actively consider the country's relatively small domestic bond market.But inclusion does not mean that J.P. Morgan is investing US$330 billion in Zambia or distributing that amount among the countries in the index. The figure represents the approximate value of eligible debt tracked by the benchmark. Actual capital flows will depend on how many investment managers follow the index and the size of the funds they manage.<h3>Zambia had to make its bonds large enough</h3>The development also highlights changes underway in Zambia's domestic government securities market.J.P. Morgan's rules require eligible bonds to have at least US$250 million equivalent in outstanding value and at least 2.5 years remaining to maturity, while no country can account for more than 8 percent of the index.The minimum bond-size requirement had raised questions about whether Zambia would qualify. Reuters reported that Zambia's efforts to increase the size of its benchmark securities enabled it to meet the threshold.The Bank of Zambia has been deliberately working to create larger and more liquid benchmark securities. Under changes introduced in 2026, benchmark bonds have a minimum target outstanding size of K10 billion, with the central bank reopening existing benchmark bonds to build them towards that level.Government bond auctions were also increased to K6.3 billion per auction in the second quarter of 2026, with auctions scheduled twice during the quarter.The reforms are important because size and liquidity matter to institutional investors. A large bond that trades regularly is easier for a fund manager to enter and exit than a small, thinly traded security.<h3>Foreign participation is already increasing</h3>Zambia's inclusion comes as foreign participation in the domestic government bond market has been expanding.The Bank of Zambia raised the ceiling for non-resident participation in primary government bond auctions from 5 percent to 23 percent of planned annual issuance in January 2026.During the first quarter, demand for government bonds exceeded the amounts offered by an average 175.3 percent, with the Bank of Zambia attributing the strong demand partly to substantial participation by non-resident investors.That provides an important backdrop to the J.P. Morgan development: international investors were already showing greater interest in Zambia's domestic debt before the new index is launched.<h3>A changing macroeconomic backdrop</h3>The index inclusion also comes against an improvement in some of Zambia's macroeconomic indicators.Annual inflation fell to 6.2 percent in August 2026, from 6.5 percent in July, according to the Zambia Statistics Agency.The IMF said in May that Zambia had made substantial progress in consolidating macroeconomic stabilisation, while gross international reserves had risen to US$6.4 billion, equivalent to 4.4 months of prospective imports. The Fund also noted continuing fiscal pressures and the need for further reforms to reduce the domestic interest burden and strengthen fiscal resilience.These factors matter to investors because the attractiveness of a kwacha-denominated bond is determined not only by its coupon or yield, but also by expectations about inflation, fiscal policy, exchange-rate movements and the government's ability to manage its debt.<h3>What it could mean for borrowing costs</h3>If index inclusion leads to sustained foreign demand, Zambia could benefit from a deeper and more liquid government bond market.A broader investor base could increase demand for kwacha-denominated securities and potentially reduce the yield investors require to hold them. Government bond yields also serve as reference rates for other borrowing in the economy, meaning lower sovereign funding costs could eventually influence financing conditions for banks and companies.There is, however, no guarantee that this will happen.Frontier-market bonds offer higher yields partly because investors take on greater currency, liquidity and sovereign risks. J.P. Morgan expects the new index to have an estimated average yield of about 10.4 percent, roughly 4.4 percentage points above its mainstream emerging-market local-currency bond index.For an international investor, a high kwacha bond yield can be offset by a depreciation of the currency against the dollar. Investors can also withdraw quickly from smaller markets when global interest rates rise or risk appetite deteriorates.That makes index inclusion a gateway to capital, rather than a guarantee of cheaper borrowing.For Zambia, the more immediate significance is that its domestic bond market is increasingly being structured around the requirements of international institutional investors: larger benchmark securities, greater liquidity and wider access for non-residents.After years in which Zambia's international financial-market profile was dominated by debt distress and restructuring, the inclusion in J.P. Morgan's frontier-market benchmark provides another indication that the country's domestic capital market is being reconnected to global investors.The next test will be whether that visibility translates into sustained investment, deeper market liquidity and, ultimately, a lower cost of financing for the Zambian government and the wider economy.

Zambia Enters New J.P. Morgan Frontier Bond Index

Bond yields are among the most closely watched indicators in financial markets, but they are often discussed as though investors are expected to understand what they mean.At their simplest, bond yields tell investors what return the market is demanding for lending money for a particular period. But changes in yields can also provide clues about expectations for inflation, interest rates, government borrowing and economic growth.For investors, understanding the movement can sometimes be as important as understanding the level. <h2>What Is a Bond Yield?</h2>A bond is essentially a loan.When an investor buys a government bond, for example, the government receives money today and promises to make specified payments before returning the principal at maturity.The yield is the return an investor expects to receive from holding the bond, based on its price and payments.The important point is that bond prices and yields generally move in opposite directions.If demand for an existing bond increases, its price rises. Because the bond's payments have not changed, the effective return to a new buyer falls.If investors sell the bond and its price falls, its yield rises.This relationship is fundamental to understanding bond markets. <h2>Why Do Yields Move?</h2>Several factors can push yields higher or lower.<h3>Interest-rate expectations</h3>Central banks influence short-term interest rates, and markets constantly assess where those rates could be heading.If investors expect interest rates to remain high, yields on many bonds can rise as investors demand greater returns.Conversely, expectations of lower future rates can contribute to falling yields, particularly at shorter maturities.<h3>Inflation</h3>Inflation matters because investors care about their real return—the return after accounting for changes in purchasing power.If a bond offers a 10% nominal yield while inflation is 8%, the approximate real return before taxes and other considerations is only 2%.When investors expect higher inflation, they may demand higher nominal yields to compensate.<h3>Government borrowing</h3>Governments frequently issue bonds to finance deficits and refinance existing debt.If the supply of government debt increases substantially, investors may demand higher yields, particularly if there are concerns about the government's ability or willingness to manage its debt burden.But supply is only one part of the equation. Strong demand for government securities can absorb additional issuance without producing a corresponding increase in yields.<h3>Economic growth</h3>Bond yields can also reflect expectations about economic activity.Stronger expected growth may increase expectations for inflation and higher interest rates, putting upward pressure on yields.Weak economic expectations can have the opposite effect as investors seek relatively predictable income and anticipate easier monetary policy. <h2>What Does the Yield Curve Tell Us?</h2>One of the most useful ways to read the bond market is through the yield curve.The yield curve compares yields across different maturities, such as two-year, five-year and ten-year government bonds.Normally, longer-term bonds offer higher yields because investors are committing their money for longer and face greater uncertainty.But the curve can take different shapes.A steepening curve may indicate that long-term yields are rising relative to short-term yields. This can reflect changing expectations around inflation, economic growth or government borrowing.A flattening curve means the difference between short- and long-term yields is narrowing.An inverted curve, where shorter-term yields exceed longer-term yields, has historically attracted attention because it can occur when markets expect future interest rates and economic activity to weaken.None of these signals should be interpreted in isolation. <h2>What Does This Mean for a Zambian Investor?</h2>For a Zambian investor, the headline government bond yield should be only the starting point.The first question is: what is the yield after inflation?A bond yielding 15% may appear attractive, but if inflation is running at 12%, the difference between the nominal yield and inflation is much smaller than the headline number suggests. Investors therefore need to distinguish between the return stated on the bond and the return in terms of purchasing power.The second question is: what is happening to the exchange rate?A Zambian investor who measures wealth partly in US dollars may experience a very different outcome from one measuring returns entirely in kwacha. A high kwacha bond yield does not automatically translate into a high foreign-currency return if the kwacha depreciates significantly during the investment period.The third question is: what is driving the yield?A high yield can reflect attractive income, but it can also reflect higher perceived risk, inflation expectations, fiscal pressures or uncertainty about future monetary conditions. The number needs to be interpreted alongside the conditions producing it.The fourth question is: how long is the money being locked up?A longer-dated government bond may offer a higher yield, but it also exposes an investor to greater interest-rate and price risk if the investor needs to sell before maturity.This creates an important distinction between an investor who intends to hold a bond to maturity and one who may need to trade it before maturity. <h2>A Simple Zambia Investor Dashboard</h2>For someone following Zambia's fixed-income market, five indicators provide a useful starting point:1. Government bond yieldsTrack yields across different maturities rather than focusing on one bond.2. InflationCompare nominal yields with the inflation environment to assess the potential real return.3. Monetary policyWatch the direction of interest rates and the signals coming from the Bank of Zambia.4. Exchange rateConsider how movements in the kwacha could affect returns, particularly for investors who think in foreign-currency terms.5. Fiscal and debt developmentsGovernment borrowing requirements, debt restructuring developments and the overall fiscal position can influence how investors price government securities.Together, these indicators provide more information than the bond yield alone. <h2>The Key Takeaway for Zambia</h2>For Zambian investors, a high bond yield should not automatically be interpreted as a high return.The more useful question is: <blockquote>What does the yield compensate me for?</blockquote>It may compensate for inflation. It may reflect interest-rate expectations. It may reflect the time commitment involved in holding the bond. It may reflect fiscal or credit concerns. Or it may simply reflect prevailing market conditions.The answer matters because two bonds with apparently attractive yields can carry very different economic implications.An investor considering Zambian government securities should therefore look at the yield, inflation, maturity, interest-rate environment, exchange rate and fiscal conditions together.That is the central lesson of reading bond markets: the yield is the price of the opportunity—and the risks embedded in that opportunity.For Zambia, understanding those risks is particularly important because nominal returns can look very different from real and foreign-currency-adjusted returns.

Bond Yields and What They Signal for Investors. Placeholder summary for the Markets section. Replace this text with a real story or delete the article from the admin dashboard.

Bond Yields and What They Signal for Investors

When the price of fuel rises, the pain is immediate. It appears at the filling station, in transport fares, in the cost of moving goods and eventually in the prices consumers pay for food and other essentials. That is why the Zambian Government's decision to suspend excise duty and zero-rate Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel imports made economic sense when it was introduced in April 2026. With global oil prices rising amid the crisis in the Middle East, the measure was intended to cushion households and businesses from another fuel-price shock.But there is another side to the policy that is less visible to the public. Someone still has to pay for the relief. In this case, that someone is the Treasury.The Government initially introduced the fuel tax relief for three months, from April to June 2026, before extending it for another three months from July 1 to September 30. When the waiver was first introduced, Government estimated that the initial three-month intervention would cost approximately US$200 million in foregone revenue. That figure provides a useful benchmark for understanding the scale of the policy.If the original US$200 million estimate is spread evenly across the three months, the implied fiscal cost is approximately US$66.7 million per month. At that rate, the six-month period from April through September could represent roughly US$400 million in foregone revenue. By September 7, the implied cumulative cost would be around US$349 million. At an exchange rate of approximately K19 per US dollar, that translates into roughly K6.6 billion in foregone tax revenue. By the end of September, the figure could approach K7.6 billion.These figures should not be mistaken for audited Treasury outturns. They are a simple extrapolation from Government's original US$200 million estimate, and the actual cost will depend on fuel import volumes, international prices, exchange rates, consumption and the resulting tax base. Nevertheless, even as an indicative calculation, the numbers are large enough to change the nature of the debate. This is no longer simply a question of whether motorists should pay more or less for a litre of petrol or diesel. It is a question of what Zambia is willing to sacrifice from its public finances to keep fuel prices lower.There is a legitimate economic case for the waiver. Fuel is not an ordinary consumer product. Petrol and diesel are inputs into almost every part of the economy. Trucks require diesel to move goods. Farmers depend on fuel to operate machinery and transport produce. Businesses incur fuel costs in their logistics operations, while public transport operators face fuel costs that influence fares. When fuel becomes expensive, the shock travels through the economy. Reducing fuel taxes can therefore provide benefits beyond the person filling a private vehicle. It can reduce transport and logistics costs, moderate inflationary pressures and give businesses some breathing room.For Government, the argument is straightforward: sacrificing tax revenue today may prevent a much larger economic shock tomorrow. That is a legitimate economic policy argument. But it does not answer another important question: who actually benefits from the relief?A fuel tax waiver is a broad instrument. A household that consumes 50 litres a month receives some benefit, while a household consuming 500 litres receives considerably more. A small trader who occasionally purchases fuel benefits, but a large logistics company operating a fleet of trucks benefits substantially more. The policy therefore does not necessarily distribute the fiscal sacrifice according to economic need.This matters because Government is effectively using public revenue to reduce the cost of a commodity consumed disproportionately by those who consume more of it. An alternative approach could have been to use part of the fiscal space for more targeted interventions, such as cash transfers, public transport support, agricultural production or assistance to particularly vulnerable households and productive sectors. That does not automatically mean targeted support would have been better than the fuel waiver. It means the alternatives should be compared against the cost of the current policy.The political attraction of a fuel waiver is easy to understand. The benefit is visible. Consumers see the price at the pump. The fiscal cost is much less visible. There is no display at a filling station showing how much tax revenue Government has surrendered that month. That cost appears somewhere else, in the public finances, where it competes with spending on health, education, infrastructure, social protection and debt obligations.This creates a fundamental challenge for fiscal policy. If Government collects billions of kwacha less in VAT and excise duties, something else eventually has to adjust. It could be expenditure, borrowing, the fiscal deficit or pressure to increase other sources of revenue. This is particularly important for Zambia because the country is simultaneously trying to strengthen domestic revenue mobilisation and maintain fiscal consolidation.The International Monetary Fund has already highlighted the suspension of fuel VAT and excise duties as one of the factors contributing to weaker tax collection and a deterioration in Zambia's projected fiscal position. This creates an uncomfortable policy tension. Zambia needs stronger domestic revenue mobilisation, yet at the same time it is deliberately giving up a significant source of domestic revenue.There may be good economic reasons for doing this temporarily. The problem begins when temporary emergency relief becomes difficult to withdraw.The real test, therefore, should not simply be whether the fuel waiver reduced prices. It did. The more important question is whether the economic benefits are worth the revenue Zambia is giving up.Government should be able to estimate how much consumers have saved as a result of the policy, how much businesses have saved, how much inflation was avoided and how much of the benefit reached lower-income households. That would allow policymakers to answer a much more important question than the headline cost: what did Zambia get for the billions of kwacha it sacrificed?If the country gave up K7 billion but prevented a major inflationary shock, protected businesses, reduced transport costs and preserved household purchasing power, the policy may prove to have been worthwhile. If much of the benefit accrued to higher fuel consumers while the fiscal position deteriorated, then the same resources might have generated greater economic and social returns elsewhere.Without that analysis, Zambia knows the cost of the intervention but has only a partial picture of its return.The September 30 expiry of the current waiver should therefore be more than another administrative deadline. It should be an opportunity for Government to publish a proper assessment of the intervention before deciding whether to extend it again. How much revenue was actually forgone? How much did motorists save? What happened to transport costs? What happened to inflation? How much did businesses save? And perhaps most importantly, who benefited?There is also a need for greater transparency around the counterfactual. Zambians should know what the pump price would have been if VAT and excise duties had remained in place. Only then can citizens properly understand the size of the relief they are receiving and the fiscal price being paid on their behalf.The temptation in public policy is to celebrate the visible benefit while ignoring the invisible cost. But tax policy does not make costs disappear. A tax waiver simply transfers the cost from the consumer at the pump to Government's balance sheet. And ultimately, Government's balance sheet belongs to the public.The fuel waiver may have been the right decision when global oil prices were threatening another inflationary shock. But a policy can be justified when it is introduced and still require reassessment several months later. Circumstances change, fiscal pressures change and the cost of continuing an emergency intervention becomes increasingly important.Based on Government's original estimate of US$200 million for the first three months, Zambia could be approaching US$350 million in foregone revenue by early September, with the six-month cost potentially reaching approximately US$400 million by the end of September. At around K19 to the dollar, that is a potential fiscal sacrifice of more than K7 billion.That is too much money for the country to evaluate the policy simply by asking whether fuel is cheaper.The harder question is the one that matters: was the relief worth what Zambia gave up to provide it?Before another extension is considered, Government should give the public the numbers.Because cheap fuel at the pump is not free.Someone is paying the bill.

Zambia’s Fuel Tax Holiday Is Not Free — Someone Is Paying the Bill

LIVINGSTONE — Dr. Edna Kabala Litana has made history as the first woman to lead the Economics Association of Zambia (EAZ)—but her election comes at a time when the economics profession itself is being tested.Zambia is navigating a complicated economic landscape: inflation and the cost of living remain important concerns, the exchange rate continues to matter for households and businesses, public debt has reshaped fiscal policy, and the country is under pressure to turn economic growth into jobs, investment and broader prosperity.It is against this backdrop that Dr. Litana takes over the leadership of the country’s professional association for economists.She was elected President during the EAZ elective Annual General Meeting held from September 3–4, 2026, at the Avani Victoria Falls Resort in Livingstone.Her election is historic. But beyond the symbolism of becoming the Association’s first female president, the more consequential question is what the new leadership will do with the platform. <h2>More than a change at the top</h2>The EAZ occupies an unusual space in Zambia's economic policy ecosystem.It is neither government nor a private-sector lobby. It is a professional association whose members include economists working across academia, government, business, finance, research and development.That gives the Association the potential to serve as an important bridge between economic theory, policy and the realities facing households and businesses.But that role also comes with a challenge.Zambia does not lack economic commentary.What it often lacks is sustained, independent and technically grounded economic debate that connects policy decisions to their consequences for ordinary people.That is where the new EAZ leadership has an opportunity to make its mark. <h2>The economics profession is changing</h2>The questions confronting economists today are also changing.Zambia's traditional economic debates around inflation, interest rates, fiscal deficits, exchange rates and debt remain important. But they now sit alongside new questions around artificial intelligence, digitalisation, climate change, energy security, mineral criticality, global trade disruptions and the changing structure of employment.For Zambia, the mining economy adds another layer.The country is seeking to expand copper production while positioning itself to benefit from growing demand for critical minerals. The challenge is not simply extracting more minerals, but determining how mining can generate stronger domestic value chains, investment, skills and long-term economic resilience.These are questions that require economists to look beyond headline GDP numbers. <h2>From commentary to influence</h2>The new EAZ administration inherits an Association with the opportunity to become more influential in national economic conversations.That could mean deeper engagement with government budgets and policy proposals, stronger economic research, more accessible public education and greater collaboration between economists in academia, business and public policy.It could also mean giving younger economists a stronger platform.Zambia has a growing community of economists working with increasingly sophisticated datasets, modelling tools and digital technologies. The EAZ could play a greater role in connecting this emerging generation to the country's most important economic policy questions.The test will be whether the Association can convert this professional expertise into something the wider public can actually use. <h2>A historic presidency, a demanding agenda</h2>Dr. Litana's election also comes after a period of interim leadership under Dr. Oswald Mungule's administration.The new executive therefore represents not simply a change in personnel, but an opportunity for institutional renewal.Dr. Litana, an economist, academic and entrepreneur with a PhD in Economics from the University of Zambia, now leads a newly elected National Executive Committee that includes figures such as economist John Ng’andu alongside other elected officials.The composition of the new leadership will matter, but its effectiveness will ultimately be measured by its output.Can the EAZ become a stronger source of independent economic analysis?Can it challenge economic assumptions without becoming politically partisan?Can it make economics understandable beyond conference rooms and policy circles?And perhaps most importantly, can it help reconnect economic policy with the lived experience of Zambian households and businesses?Those are bigger questions than who won an election.<h2>Why it matters</h2>The economics profession has considerable influence over how Zambia understands its economic choices.When inflation rises, economists explain why.When the kwacha moves, economists analyse the pressures.When government borrows, economists assess the implications.When GDP grows, economists ask whether that growth is translating into meaningful improvements in living standards.The EAZ has the opportunity to bring these conversations together under a stronger professional voice.Dr. Litana's historic election gives the Association a new face.The harder task will be giving it a sharper voice.For Zambia's economists, the next chapter is therefore not simply about representation. It is about relevance.The country will be watching what its economists have to say—and whether their analysis can help shape what Zambia does next.Katondo Street Journal will continue to follow the new EAZ leadership and Zambia's evolving economic policy debate.

Dr. Edna Litana Makes History as First Woman to Lead EAZ

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