Poverty getting worse

Meanhwile news reports also said on Wednesday that an estimated 85 percent of the Zambian population were living on less than US $1 a day with the remaining 15 percent on less than US $2 a day.

The Catholic Mission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) was quoted as saying that quality of life of the majority of Zambians deteriorated drastically over the past year. “The fall in copper prices on the world market led to an 11 percent reduction in the contribution of the mining sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)”, a recent CCJP report was quoted as saying. “The ultimate consequences of the current economic situation have been abject poverty and hopelessness for many Zambians,” said the report.

The report said that during the past year, inflation went up by 30.6 per cent, while overall the GDP fell by two per cent, per capita income by five percent and formal employment declined by two percent.” About 660,000 children of school-age are not going to school due to their being unable to meet school requirements, while the few who are lucky enough to go to school learn without teaching aids and the much talked about health reforms have only worked to alienate most people from health care,” the report stated.