Zambia at COP 27

13 December 2022

The United Nations Climate Change Conference is an annual summit of Heads of State and global leaders with the aim of implementing the United Nations Convention on Climate Change and Paris Agreement of 2015. By the latter Agreement, parties agreed to accelerate global climate action through emissions reduction to net-zero by 2050, scaled-up adaptation efforts and enhanced flows of appropriate finance. The goal is to keep the rise in mean global temperature to well below 2°C (3.6 °F) above pre-industrial levels, and preferably limit the increase to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F), recognizing that this would substantially reduce the effects of climate change.

Energy Sector Policy Highlights

11 November 2022

The New Dawn administration has set ambitious policy objectives for the energy sector that will require both policy certainty and private capital. This comes after a 10-year period during which, despite some initial big wins including increased private participation, the policy direction became unclear; and this manifested in continued load-shedding and public debate over rising fuel costs.

Public Private Partnerships

07 November 2022

The preferred project structure

Recent policy changes including many tax incentives suggest that public private partnerships (“PPP’s”) are the government’s preferred structure for the many infrastructure projects that it has planned. To this end, the government plans to repeal and replace the Public Private Partnership Act with a more enabling statute. We already see PPPs being used for transport and logistics projects including road and border posts; and we expect to see many more considering the recent policy announcements in the 2023 National Budget, for such projects.

Zambia Goes Green

25 October 2022

8NDP & 2023 Budget Green Economy Highlights

The Eighth National Development Plan (“8NDP”) sets out Zambia’s strategic policy direction, development priorities and implementation strategies for the period 2022 – 2026. Regarding the Green Economy, the 8NDP prioritizes the implementation of climate change adaptation actions in Zambia’s Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement to achieve improved climate change adaptive capacity, reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience to climate change. The government plans to promote low carbon sustainable consumption and production to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to meet the emission reduction targets set out in the Nationally Determined Contributions. The Government also plans to enact legislation to support these policy objectives.

A “NEW DAWN” ON THE PROPERTY TRANSFER TAX REGIME

14 October 2022

The proposed Zambian National Budget for the year 2023 has been hailed as a progressive and ambitious developmental programme, building on the New Dawn Government’s mission to transform the Zambian economy. In its quest to generate the much-needed revenue, the 2023 budget is an interplay between revenue concessionary measures and compensating measures. As we enter the new year, we are set to see several reforms being made to, among other things, the property transfer tax (“PTT”) regime in Zambia.

Proposed Agricultural Sector Reforms in the 2023 National Budget

14 October 2022

Introduction

A review of the 2023 National budget has indicated, particularly in relation to agriculture, along with the subsectors of livestock and fisheries, a number of progressive reforms that the government intends to undertake in the coming year. With a view to adequately address this major sector of the economy, below is a summary of the proposed developments for enhanced agricultural productivity.

Proposed Mining Sector Reforms in the 2023 National Budget

11 October 2022

Introduction

The mining sector is arguably one of the corner stones of the country’s economy accounting for 17.5% of the country’s GDP and over 70% of foreign exchange earnings in 2021. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in the past year was among others, a major contributing factor to the low production experienced in this sector.

FORM VERSE SUBSTANCE: RECHARACTERISATION OF FINANCING AGREEMENTS

28 September 2022

Over the years, there has been a growing stance in the money lending sphere in which the loan agreements are drafted in a way that passes off as an ultimate sale of the collateral granted by a borrower. Typically, the question that arises when there is a dispute between the parties is whether the transaction is one which creates an absolute interest (e.g. by way of sale) or one which is less than absolute (e.g. a security interest). In this article, we explore the distinction between the form and substance in the characterisation of finance agreements.

Zambian Mining Sector Reforms

6 September 2022

Based on an article appearing in the Daily Mail Newspaper of 31 August 2022, the Government of the Republic of Zambia plans to set up a mining commission to improve compliance levels (currently at 10%) of mineral royalty paid by mining firms. Further, this development is part of the imminent mining sector reforms to be undertaken by the Zambian Government.