The State, Corporations, or the People: Who Benefits From Mining in Zambia?

Léonce Ndikumana (), Dale Mudenda and Bilen Gurara
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Léonce Ndikumana: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics and Political Economy Research Institute (PERI)
Dale Mudenda: University of Zambia, Department of Economics
Bilen Gurara: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics

Chapter 5 in Capital Flight from Cameroon, Ghana, and Zambia, 2026, pp 115-178 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter is part of a project that investigates domestic and global drivers and enablers of capital flight from Cameroon, Ghana, and Zambia. It presents a historical and institutional analysis of the mining sector in Zambia. The expectations that Zambia’s vast endowment in mineral resources would drive economic transformation and propel the country to higher levels of living standards remain elusive. The country is still confronted with chronic macroeconomic trade and fiscal imbalances, a heavy debt burden, shortage of foreign exchange reserves with attendant pressures on the value of the national currency. The contribution of mineral exploitation to employment, government revenue, foreign exchange earnings, economic growth, and poverty reduction remains suboptimal. Yet, the sector continues to attract substantial attention from foreign investors and remains dominated by foreign corporations. So, if the people of Zambia are not reaping adequate benefits from mineral resource exploitation, then who is capturing the rents? This chapter provides a review of the history, industrial organization, and management of the mining sector, and explores the factors that have constrained the performance of the sector with an emphasis on the role of the ownership structure, the fiscal regime, exposure to external shocks, and lack of transformational orientation of the sector. This chapter draws some policy suggestions for the improvement of the performance of the mining sector going forward.

Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-22770-6_5

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