The Zambia NGO WASH Forum has observed with concern the 3 percent share of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in the overall 2025 social sector budget.
This is despite WASH being listed as a key social sector in Zambia’s agreement with the IMF.
Representing other members, Forum Member Chama Mundia noted that the theme of the 217.1 Billion Kwacha 2025 budget is “Building Resilience for Inclusive Growth and Improved Livelihoods.”
She highlighted that some of the main beneficiaries are debt servicing, road infrastructure, and social sectors.
This was revealed in Lusaka when the Zambia NGO WASH Forum made a joint submission on the 2025 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation to the Committee on Energy, Water Development, and Tourism for the financial year ending 31st December 2025.
Ms. Mundia noted that the government’s objectives remain to attain a real GDP growth rate of at least 6.6 percent, reduce inflation to the 6-8 percent medium-term target band, maintain international reserves above 3.0 months of import cover, increase domestic revenue to at least 21.3 percent of GDP, reduce the fiscal deficit to 3.1 percent of GDP and limit domestic borrowing to no more than 1.9 percent of GDP.
She emphasized that the Forum was of the considered view that WASH was not simply a social necessity but critical to unlocking the economic potential of the country and must, therefore, be prioritized.
“Underinvestment in WASH has far-reaching implications for the nation’s economic progress. A case in point is the negative impact of water-borne diseases on GDP,” she said.
The WASH Expert said while total allocations to the social sector have risen to 73 Billion Kwacha from 60 Billion Kwacha as per IMF commitments, a significant portion is targeted towards social protection programs to address the cash needs of communities affected by the 2023/24 drought.
Ms. Mundia pointed out a steady decline in the WASH budget as a share of GDP to 0.2%, below the 0.5% of GDP eThekwini commitment that Zambia is party to.
“The decline is even more glaring when the WASH budget is presented as a share of the total budget. While nominally increasing from K1.8 billion to K2.3 billion, the WASH share of the budget has dropped from 2.5% of the national budget in 2020 to 1.1% in 2025,” she said.
“The Forum further noted that allocation to Water Resources Development has commendably increased from K338 million in 2023 to K813 million in 2025, likely driven by the drought and the need to support economic development through productive utilization of water resources. Further, allocation to sanitation has also increased to K714 million. However, the Forum expressed concern that while 85 percent of the nation relies on On-Site Sanitation, financing is tilted to community-led total Sanitation, resulting in limited sanitation interventions. The decreased allocation to the Water supply sub-program was also highlighted,” she added.
Meanwhile, Pemba Member of Parliament Lameck Hamwaata expressed mixed feelings about next year’s national budget.
This information is contained in a statement issued by Zambia NGO WASH Forum Communications Officer Bangwe Naviley.
