Repositioning Zambia's Mining Tax Regime

Zambia is endowed with abundant natural resources beyond just mineral wealth such as arable land, forests, wildlife, and water resources. Yet the country remains one of the world’s poorest. Over 50% of its 19.6million people live in poverty and about 40% in extreme poverty...
Zambia’s mining tax regime is often described as generally unstable as it changes from year to year from mainly metal prices changes, and sometimes depending on the government in power. Lack of tax regime stability can disincentivize investments as investors are weary of unexpected tax rises during production30. From the perspective of the Government, and as has been observed in Zambia, frequently changing tax regimes provide an opportunity for mining firms to lobby or push back Government on their proposals. The Zambian Government has on many occasions failed to succeed in effecting some tax changes which are met by threats of stopping operations by mining firms and taking away their investments in some cases. The time spent and revenue lost during these long periods of negotiations is a huge loss to Government that can be avoided with a more stable fiscal regime...