Clear bottlenecks with mines to address dwindling reserves, Mutati urges govt

GOVERNMENT must focus on clearing the bottlenecks around the mining sector if Zambia is to re-build its international gross reserves, says Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Felix Mutati. And Mutati says it will be nearly impossible for Zambia to get a debt restructuring plan without getting on an International Monetary Fund (IMF)-backed economic programme. In an interview, Mutati, a former finance minister, observed that the mining sector was the fastest way of generating foreign exchange, hence the need for government to resolve any disputes with mining companies. “You have to relook at what are these bottlenecks in the mining sector that are holding back production when you have a lucrative copper price, and most of them are decision points,…...