Zambia’s 2027 budget plan targets 10,000MW while eight projects build 1,315MW

Zambia’s Energy Regulation Board was tracking 1,315MW of generation under construction in September, as ministries defended their 2027 spending plans in Lusaka this week. The medium-term plan behind that budget, published on 27 September, puts 10,000MW among its production targets, and comments on its Green Paper close on 9 October.

Ministries and agencies were defending their spending plans for Zambia’s 2027 budget at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka on Monday, each told by the Treasury to justify its priority programmes within the ceilings of the 2027 Budget Call Circular.

The plan behind those budgets is the 2027-2029 Medium Term Budget Plan, published with the 2027 National Budget Green Paper by the Ministry of Finance and National Planning on 27 September. It projects average growth of close to 7% over the three years, anchored on production targets that include 10,000MW of generating capacity and three million tonnes of copper a year, against about 890,000 tonnes in 2025. Situmbeko Musokotwane, the Minister of Finance and National Planning, has called the stability achieved since the external debt restructuring “not an end in itself”, and has asked each sector to say what it will produce and where it will invest.

Felix Nkulukusa, the Secretary to the Treasury, told Monday’s hearings that maize marketing arrears and the possible effects of an El Niño season in 2026/27 were among the pressures on public finances, and that government would have to “do more with less” in 2027. Cabinet had flagged the same El Niño risk to the outlook when it approved the Green Paper on 22 September.

The Energy Regulation Board was tracking 1,315MW of generating capacity under construction across eight projects in September, and the IMF has separately estimated about 1,000MW of solar under construction, with 868MW of new capacity expected to be commissioned by December. When complete, they join an installed base the Ministry of Energy put at 4,576MW in July, with solar at about 841MW against 88MW in 2021.

Stakeholders have until Friday 9 October to send comments on the Green Paper, which the Ministry of Finance and National Planning will use to finalise the medium-term plan and the 2027 National Budget.