The Civil Society for Poverty Reduction’s (CSPR’s) contributions and comments to the preparation of 2004 budget is based on the fact that as a civil society poverty network, we have greatly been involved in the formulation and drawing up of a poverty reduction plan for Zambia - the PRSP. As stated before, CSPR is not blind to the fact that the PRSP is an IMF/WB initiated plan and as such is sensitive that past IMF/WB programmes in the form of SAPs have not worked for Zambia. However, the contents of Zambia's PRSP provide a starting point to prioritizing the poverty question and it is a challenge to our government to reject the PRSP as conditionality for Zambia and to use it as a poverty plan.

The CSPR network attempts to reflect the voices of the poor in budget formulation and implementation through activities such as the Pre and Post Budget analysis. It is our hope that through this 2004 Pre­-Budget Statement, the government of Zambia, parliamentarians, the international community and other state and non-state actors will pay particular attention to issues that will make the 2004 budget a people's budget.

Zambia's most important resource are the people and as such the budget must be one that aims to provide basic needs such as food and shelter, education and health. CSPR expects to see meaningful allocations to the social sectors and Poverty Reduction Programmes (PRPs) in the 2004 budget.

Zambians have continued to experience a worsening of income distribution in the past ten years. To ensure growth with equity we must combine targeted increases in spending on social services and economic reconstruction with a tax strategy that will reduce the burden on the poor majority.

In 2004 CSPR demands a budget that will make a difference to the approximately three quarters of the population that continue to wallow in unacceptable human conditions.

CSPR will be looking closely at proposed incomes and expenditures in the MTEF 2004 - 2006, and interpret what these can mean for the poor. Three questions are looked at: i) does the budget mention specific pro-poor policies, ii) are these matched by adequate funding commitments, and iii) do they relate to the socio-economic reality of the Zambian poor.

2.0 Status of Poverty in Zambia

There is no question that extremely high  levels of poverty exist in Zambia today. The incidence of this poverty is higher in rural areas than in urban areas and more extreme among female-headed households than male headed households and this characteristic cuts across all provinces. Poverty in Zambia exhibits a seasonal trend and is highest during the months of November to March. This is the farming period when supplies are lowest. The quality of education and health, two critical social services, has been falling while the cost of the two has been rising. The latter has put these social services out of the reach of the majority of the poor.

Poverty is a symptom of two major problems. Firstly, the economy has failed to perform to the expectations of the government and its people and secondly, the government has failed to provide essential basic services for its people