The World Bank in Zambia

Zambia is a large, landlocked, resource-rich country with sparsely populated land in the center of Southern Africa. It shares its border with eight countries (Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe) that expands its regional market for goods and services.

Zambia is experiencing a large demographic shift and is one of the world’s youngest countries by median age. Its population, much of it urban, is estimated at about 19. 6 million (2021) with a rapid growth rate of 2.7% per year, reflecting the relatively high fertility rate. As the large youth population attains reproductive age, the population is anticipated to double in the next 25 years, resulting in additional pressure on the demand for jobs, health care, and other social services.

Macroeconomic Developments and Outlook
Following a historic drought and despite gloomy forecasts, Zambia’s economic activity showed resilience. As the country was still rebounding from the COVID-19 recession, it faced the worst drought in over two decades during the 2023/2024 rainy season, exacerbated by the El Niño weather pattern. This climatic disaster affected 9.8 million people across 84 districts, slowing economic activity as agriculture contracted and electricity outages sharply increased. Real GDP growth, which averaged 5.6% between 2021-23, was projected to decline and reach 1.2% in 2024, compounded by protracted debt restructuring, external imbalances from Russian invasion of Ukraine, the cholera epidemic, and heightened sovereign risks. Yet, preliminary figures now show a growth rate estimated at 2.4% in 2024, exceeding projections, thanks to a stronger rebound in mining, with copper production growing by 12% in 2024 for the first time in three years. 

Political Context
Zambia gained its independence in 1964, under the leadership of first President Kenneth Kaunda. The nation is considered a stable country with successful democratic elections held every five years. After many years of a one-party state, Zambia became a multi-party state in 1991.

Zambia’s democracy is evident by the nine presidential elections and four different political parties that have so far ruled the country. Among them are the United National Independence Party (UNIP 1964-1991), Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD 1996-2011), Patriotic Front (PF2011-2021), and currently the United Party for National Development (UPND). Current President Hakainde Hichilema of the UPND was elected in August 2021, after defeating then-incumbent President Edgar Lungu of the Patriotic Front. The next presidential elections in Zambia will be held on August 12, 2026. 

Last Updated: Oct 08, 2024

The World Bank Zambia Country Partnership Framework (CPF) FY25-29 supports the government in achieving its development goals and is closely aligned with the government’s National Development Plan and Vision 2030.  The Zambia CPF FY25-29 was endorsed by the Board on October 8, 2024. Given the key development challenges, the WBG’s comparative advantage, and lessons learned from the previous CPF’s implementation, the new CPF will reinforce the importance of the private sector, good governance, and resilience and will focus on results in the following areas:

More and Better Jobs – Improving the business environment for private investment and improving connectivity and increasing energy access.

Improving Human Capital – Improving education, skills and health outcomes for the future labor force, and improving targeting and effectiveness of social Pprotection.

Enhancing Climate Resilience – improving natural resources management and climate-smart agriculture and enhancing climate risk management systems and financing.

The CPF will also have two cross-cutting priorities: More efficient, transparent, and accountable institutions, and promoting gender equality and inclusiveness. The CPF is now operational throughout all financing and ASA activities with a renewed focus on Evolution principles of efficiency and results.

Zambia ranks among the countries with highest levels of poverty and inequality globally. More than 58% (2015) of Zambia’s 19.5 million people earn less than the international poverty line of $1.90 per day (compared to 41% across Sub-Saharan Africa) and three quarters of the poor live in rural areas. World Bank support to Zambia commenced in 1955, well before it attained its independence in 1964.

As of September 2024, the current World Bank portfolio in Zambia is comprised of 17 national projects, one trust fund and five regional projects with a total commitment of $3.2 billion. The portfolio covers the following sectors: Agriculture, Education, Energy, Environment, Finance & Private Sector, Governance, Health, Macroeconomics, Social Protection, Transport, and Water.

International Finance Corporation (IFC)
IFC’s investment and advisory portfolio in Zambia currently stands at $116.4 million and covers agribusiness, energy, manufacturing, retail and tourism property, the financial sector, and the telecom sectors.

IFC’s approach for Zambia is in line with the joint WBG strategy, as it promotes sustainable private sector development by improving the investment climate, supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and proactively engaging in the development of key sectors such as infrastructure, agribusiness, and financial services. In agriculture, IFC is providing support to commercial agribusiness operations which support smallholder farmers along their value chains and contribute to national food security. In infrastructure, the focus has been on digital and renewable energy through the Scaling Solar initiative. and other planned Independent Power Projects (IPP).

In the financial sector, IFC provides financing facilities to financial institutions providing support to SMES focusing on women-owned SMEs and advisory support to improve the credit infrastructure and increase access to finance for SMEs by promoting the use of movable collateral and establishing credit reporting programs that support credit reference systems.

IFC has a resident representative in the Lusaka Country Office.

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
MIGA’s support to Zambia as of end-February 2025 stands at $170.7 million. This support spans multiple projects across the manufacturing, energy, financial and fintech sectors. The five existing projects include, a remanufacturing plant, a 120MW hydropower power project, an equity investment and capital optimization for a financial institution, a fintech mobile money project spanning 14 countries (with MIGA covering 13, including Zambia), and capital optimization for a financial institution. MIGA has also supported a regional development bank, Trade and Development Bank (TDB), of which Zambia is a member.

MIGA’s support has mobilized $747 million of commercial financing for TDB to expand its trade finance activities with clients in member countries, including support of COVID-19 related trade finance transactions. MIGA is actively working on a pipeline of private sector focused projects and leads in renewable energy and carbon credits. As part of the new World Bank Group Guarantees platform (housed at MIGA as of July 1, 2024), MIGA will also leverage deeper collaboration across the WBG to de-risk foreign investment, paying close attention to projects that support climate finance and boost job creation.

Regional Trade Facilitation
Zambia has committed to implementing policy reforms to enhance regional trade. The country is part of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bodies that promote regional trade. Overall, Zambia has performed well in all dimensions of the regional integration index, ranking second in COMESA and fourth in the SADC region. 

The World Bank’s Response to COVID-19 in Zambia
Zambia’s location in Southern Africa—it is surrounded by eight countries—increases the risk of imported diseases from neighboring countries and beyond. This is because Zambia is a major trucking route for goods, both for import and export, as well as a destination and transit point for labor migrants, asylum seekers, illegal migrants, and victims of human trafficking in the region.  The Bank provided $25 million to support Zambia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of this amount, $20 million came from the Crisis Response Window resources, while $5 million was a grant from the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF). The funds will be channeled through the Zambia COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project. 

Last Updated: Apr 17, 2025

The Zambia Agribusiness and Trade Project (ZATP) aims to deliver on the Jobs & Economic Transformation agenda. This $40 million (2016-2024) initiative pivots on a mainstreaming private sector led growth model whereby Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and smallholder farmers of Zambia are rendered competitive through improved access to markets and finance. The Ministry of Commerce, Trade, and Industry is the main implementing entity. The project provides a combination of grant financing and Business Development Services to facilitate the evolution of productive partnerships between farmers and commercial off-takers/buyers. This promotes sustainable integration of small holders and agribusiness SMEs into value chains with established end-markets.

The project has so far supported 98,000 beneficiaries directly, plus 600,000 members through aggregator models. 180 productive alliance subprojects have received grant financing and are receiving support on a one-one basis through coaching, training, and mentorship. As a result of this support, nearly 57% of Producer Organizations have been able to meet their commercialization agreements with commercial buyers and have demonstrated a 48% increase in average gross sales. As of 2022, the project mobilized $7.09 million of private capital. This is equivalent to 18% of total project funding and is significant in a fiscally constrained context like Zambia. The project provided over 2,300 trainings to 271 high growth agribusiness SMEs, covering food safety, manufacturing, good agricultural practices, financial management, marketing, packaging, and distribution, and resulting in an increase in sales and creating employment.

The Africa CDC Regional Investment Financing Project ($90 million IDA credit) aims to strengthen public health and response systems in Zambia as well as the Southern Africa subregion to improve national and regional health security. The support is part of the regional support to Africa CDC to strengthen continental and regional infectious disease detection and response systems on the African continent. The project was approved on December 10, 2019. 

The Girls’ Education and Women’s Empowerment and Livelihoods (GEWEL) Project has provided $342.54 million of support over the period 2016-2024 ($312 million IDA, and $30.54 million in trust fund grants from the United Kingdom Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Irish Aid, German Development Cooperation through the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), and Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC)).  GEWEL is a "cash plus" intervention whereby productive inclusion and women, and girl's empowerment components are layered over the social safety net. A photobook  A Hand-up, not a Hand-out, has been published, showcasing GEWEL project beneficiary voices and stories that bring to life the results of the project.

• Through the Supporting women’s Livelihoods (SWL) Component, the project has so far benefited 139,400 women with a package consisting of life and business skills training, a productive grant of $225. Results from the randomized control trial impact evaluation of Supporting Women Livelihood (SWL) show that the productive grant has significant positive impact on household food security, profits, savings, income, diversification, and happiness.
• The Keeping girls in School (KGS) component has thus far enrolled 148,616 girls in secondary schools across 65 districts, against the end-project target of 80,000. It has also made significant strides in addressing school-related gender-based violence. It also piloted and scaled up the Case Management System to identify KGS girls at risk of dropping out and retain them in schools, as well as bring those that have dropped out back to school.
• The Institutional Strengthening and Systems Building (ISSB) component has continued strengthening the management information systems, grievance redress mechanism, gender-based violence, and digital payments, among others. The operational areas of financial management, procurement, and environmental and social safeguards continue to be strengthened through this component.

• GEWEL also provides direct financing to the Social Cash Transfer (SCT) which has allowed for more timely and predictable payments to beneficiaries and a scale-up to support over 1.31 million SCT households representing 39% of the population and 82% of the extreme poor, one of the best coverages in the region with strong pro-poor aspects.

Energy
The World Bank supported the Zambian Government on electricity access initiatives and continues to invest heavily in access across Zambia. Between, 2009 and 2015, the Bank financed the connection of approximately 91,000 households—benefiting almost 500,000 people. More recently, through the Electricity Access Project, the World Bank is also supporting subsidizing the cost of connection to the grid for 22,000 low-income households and about 1,000 small enterprises in rural areas. Last mile connections to over 50,000 rural households and over 6,000 SMEs have benefited over 260,000 people).  Ongoing construction or rehabilitation of 550 km of distribution lines is supporting last mile connections and a Geospatial Master Plan has been developed.

Climate Resilience
The Government of Zambia, with World Bank support, is implementing the Transforming Landscapes for Resilience and Development in Zambia Project (TRALARD) in Northern Zambia, covering 16 districts across Luapula, Northern, and Muchinga provinces. TRALARD aims to improve natural resource management, support sustainable livelihoods, and provide immediate responses to crises. The project finances investments to help vulnerable communities overcome climate change impacts, ensuring food security and climate-resilient income activities and infrastructure. 562,500 people are expected to benefit, with at least 50% being in female-headed households. To date, 31,514 households have received alternative livelihood investments, exceeding the target of 27,836 by 2025, with 55% being female-headed. Sustainable landscape management practices now cover 99,515 hectares (target: 75,000 hectares). TRALARD has also supported 28 Community Forest Management Groups (target: 30), managing 236,782 hectares, and completed all 20 planned embankments and crossing points.

Last Updated: Apr 17, 2025

The African Development Bank, European Union, United Nations agencies, governments of German, United Kingdom, Sweden, Holland, and United States are among the partners of the World Bank.

The World Bank Group’s strategy adheres to the principles agreed with other partners supporting Zambia development efforts, as articulated in the Joint Assistance Strategy for Zambia (JASZ) and comprises highly selective targeted interventions that maximize the impact of the government’s development efforts.

Last Updated: Apr 17, 2025