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Markets · Southern Africa · ZMB

Zambia: investment risk and market entry reads

Zambia appears in 11 published Kilwa reports and 5 Africa Signal Check editions. Every read below is dated, reproduced as the report prints it, and linked to the report it comes from.

Atlas No. 5 High convictionMinerals Signal AdvantagedEnergy Signal Attractive structure, poor timing11 reports · 5 briefings
Zambia on the map of AfricaAngola — Improving but earlyBurundi — Weak structure, weak timingBenin — High convictionBurkina Faso — High convictionBotswana — Attractive structure, poor timingCentral African Republic — Weak structure, weak timingCôte d'Ivoire — Attractive structure, poor timingCameroon — Weak structure, weak timingDR Congo — Improving but earlyRepublic of the Congo — Improving but earlyDjibouti — High convictionAlgeria — High convictionEgypt — High convictionEritrea — Weak structure, weak timingEthiopia — Improving but earlyGabon — Attractive structure, poor timingGhana — High convictionGuinea — Weak structure, weak timingThe Gambia — Improving but earlyGuinea-Bissau — Weak structure, weak timingEquatorial Guinea — Improving but earlyKenya — Attractive structure, poor timingLiberia — Improving but earlyLibya — Weak structure, weak timingLesotho — Improving but earlyMorocco — High convictionMadagascar — Weak structure, weak timingMali — Attractive structure, poor timingMozambique — Weak structure, weak timingMauritania — Attractive structure, poor timingMalawi — Weak structure, weak timingNamibia — Attractive structure, poor timingNiger — High convictionNigeria — High convictionRwanda — Attractive structure, poor timingSudan — Improving but earlySouth Sudan — Improving but earlySenegal — Attractive structure, poor timingSierra Leone — Improving but earlySomalia — Weak structure, weak timingEswatini — Improving but earlyChad — Improving but earlyTogo — Attractive structure, poor timingTunisia — Attractive structure, poor timingTanzania — Attractive structure, poor timingUganda — High convictionSouth Africa — High convictionZambia — High convictionZimbabwe — Improving but earlyCabo Verde — High convictionComoros — Weak structure, weak timingMauritius — Attractive structure, poor timingSeychelles — Attractive structure, poor timingSão Tomé and Príncipe — Weak structure, weak timingZambia

Southern Africa · 10 markets · every country on the map links to its page

The published reads

Where Zambia sits, on two reads.

Kilwa Atlas No. 5
Zambia against all 54 markets on the Atlas No. 5 structure and timing readsScatter plot. Zambia reads 48.7 on structure (horizontal axis) and 69.4 on timing (vertical axis), against medians of 48.5 and 55.2, in the High conviction quadrant, as of 4 September 2026.00252550507575100100High convictionImproving but earlyAttractive structure, poor timingWeak structure, weak timingSouth Africa: 77.1 · 59.9Morocco: 71.9 · 66.2Egypt: 70.0 · 61.6Mauritius: 66.5 · 47.9Côte d'Ivoire: 64.3 · 51.8Kenya: 62.0 · 44.5Senegal: 61.9 · 17.1Botswana: 61.5 · 55.1Cabo Verde: 60.9 · 55.7Namibia: 59.9 · 43.9Algeria: 58.5 · 67.2Benin: 56.1 · 55.2Ghana: 54.5 · 65.6Uganda: 54.4 · 62.9Nigeria: 53.1 · 83.1Seychelles: 52.8 · 34.1Djibouti: 52.0 · 59.1Rwanda: 51.9 · 46.8Gabon: 51.7 · 45.9Tanzania: 51.5 · 40.7Tunisia: 50.8 · 47.3Niger: 49.8 · 68.0Burkina Faso: 49.6 · 57.4Mauritania: 49.5 · 48.2Mali: 49.5 · 54.4Togo: 49.3 · 49.4Guinea: 48.2 · 52.2Angola: 46.8 · 90.7Ethiopia: 46.4 · 80.8Libya: 46.1 · 51.7DR Congo: 46.0 · 67.6Cameroon: 45.9 · 43.9Equatorial Guinea: 45.7 · 64.6Eswatini: 45.3 · 57.2Comoros: 42.6 · 52.4The Gambia: 42.5 · 59.6Chad: 40.5 · 77.5Lesotho: 40.4 · 60.4Guinea-Bissau: 39.6 · 47.9Republic of the Congo: 38.8 · 60.6Madagascar: 38.4 · 44.3Mozambique: 37.4 · 28.4São Tomé and Príncipe: 37.4 · 53.5Somalia: 35.6 · 34.5Zimbabwe: 35.4 · 72.5Liberia: 35.3 · 65.1Eritrea: 34.8 · 52.8Sierra Leone: 32.0 · 70.1Sudan: 21.0 · 61.9Central African Republic: 20.4 · 43.1Burundi: 18.9 · 50.7Malawi: 18.6 · 46.2South Sudan: 11.7 · 72.9Zambia48.7 · 69.4Structural read, 0–100 →Timing read, 0–100 →
All 54 markets on the Atlas No. 5 structure and timing reads, gauges as of 4 September 2026; Zambia in colour, the rest faint. Medians at 48.5 and 55.2 divide the quadrants.
Structure read48.7
median 48.5
Timing read69.4
median 55.2

Atlas No. 5 quadrant

High conviction

Clears both bars. The core three are sized on structure and built to target weight through 2026; the other ten are timing-led and held in instruments that can leave, inside NDF tenor.

Minerals Signal No. 1 · 14 September 2026

AdvantagedDeep dive High conviction

A genuinely dominant global resource position. One of the ten deep dives: suitability 63.8, timing 73.3, against medians of 59.3 and 61.4.

Energy Signal No. 1 · 7 September 2026

Attractive structure, poor timing

Suitability 55, timing 49, against sixteen-market medians of 48.2 and 55.8.

Reads run 0 to 100, higher is better, and split at each report’s published medians. They are structured rankings built from cited series and dated events, not validated predictive models, and none of them is ISI or METI, which remain in independent validation.

Fact sheet · World Bank and IMF

Zambia in ten numbers.

Snapshot as at 16 September 2026

Population
21.9 million
growing 2.8% a year (2025)
2025World Bank WDI · SP.POP.TOTL
Population aged 0–14
41.0% of the population
2025World Bank WDI · SP.POP.0014.TO.ZS
Urban population
45.9% of the population
2025World Bank WDI · SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS
GDP, current prices
US$ 28.9 billion
2025World Bank WDI · NY.GDP.MKTP.CD
GDP per person
US$ 1,318
lower middle income group
2025World Bank WDI · NY.GDP.PCAP.CD
Real GDP growth
3.8% → 4.3%
2025 estimate → 2026 projectionIMF WEO · NGDP_RPCH
Inflation, average consumer prices
13.9% → 9.0%
2025 estimate → 2026 projectionIMF WEO · PCPIPCH
General government gross debt
86.0% of GDP
2025 estimateIMF WEO · GGXWDG_NGDP
Current account balance
0.9% of GDP
2026 projectionIMF WEO · BCA_NGDPD
Foreign direct investment, net inflows
US$ 2.4 billion
2024World Bank WDI · BX.KLT.DINV.CD.WD

World Bank figures are the most recent observation in the World Development Indicators, shown with their year; IMF figures are from the World Economic Outlook (April 2026) and are the IMF’s estimates and projections, not Kilwa’s. Both are reproduced with attribution (World Bank data under CC BY 4.0). Rows without a recent observation say so rather than disappearing, so the ten rows read the same on every market page.

Report by report

Every tier Zambia holds in Kilwa’s research.

All research

Each row reproduces the tier and any score the report prints for Zambia, with that report’s own description of the tier. Reports are listed newest first. The full model, inputs and robustness testing sit in each report.

Discussed by name

Reports that argue about Zambia without tiering it.

Cover of Kilwa Atlas No. 3: Africa FX, Funding and Capital Mobility

Kilwa Atlas No. 3 · 4 September 2026

Kilwa Atlas No. 3: Africa FX, Funding and Capital Mobility

The queues have cleared in the two largest markets; the risk has moved, not gone. Capital in Africa passes four gates — fund it, hedge it, receive it, repatriate it — and this Atlas scores all 54 markets on two published gauges, Capital Mobility Risk and Currency Pressure, reconstructs the 2015 to 2026 convertibility record, prices what a hedge costs where one exists, and states where distributions can be trusted, where they are negotiated and where they are trapped.

Cover of The Ocean and the Harvest

Climate Risk No. 1 · 30 July 2026

The Ocean and the Harvest

A 25-market, four-region, four-channel analysis with the full loss model published.

Africa Signal Check

Zambia in the briefing.

All editions

Questions we are asked

Zambia, in five answers.

Where does Zambia sit in Kilwa Atlas No. 5?
As of 4 September 2026, Kilwa Atlas No. 5 reads Zambia at 48.7 on structure and 69.4 on timing, above the 54-market structure median of 48.5 and above the timing median of 55.2, which places it in the "High conviction" quadrant. Both reads are structured rankings built from cited series, not validated predictive models.
Does Kilwa cover Zambia in its critical minerals research?
Yes. Minerals Signal No. 1 (14 September 2026) screens all 54 markets and places Zambia in the Advantaged tier, and it is one of the ten deep dives, read at 63.8 on suitability and 73.3 on timing: the "High conviction" quadrant. The tier is a structural characterisation from settled geological and industrial facts, not a score.
How many Kilwa reports score or discuss Zambia?
9 published Kilwa reports place Zambia in a named tier or quadrant, 2 more discuss it by name, and 5 Africa Signal Check editions mention it. Each is listed on this page with its date and linked to the report, which remains the source.
How large is Zambia's economy, and how fast is it growing?
The World Bank puts Zambia's GDP at US$ 28.9 billion in 2025 (US$ 1,318 per person, lower middle income). The IMF's World Economic Outlook, April 2026 estimates real growth of 3.8% in 2025 and projects 4.3% in 2026, with inflation at 9.0%. Figures are the World Bank's and the IMF's, reproduced with attribution; the projections are the IMF's, not Kilwa's.
Can Kilwa produce a Zambia-specific view for our mandate?
Yes. The reads on this page are published for general circulation and are not tailored to any recipient. Kilwa's advisory services take a mandate-specific brief on capital allocation, risk and regulatory intelligence, market entry and sovereign capital, and an engagement is scoped from the services page. Research is analysis, not investment, legal or tax advice.

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This page indexes research and analysis published by Kilwa Technologies. It is not investment, legal or tax advice, is prepared for general circulation and is not tailored to any recipient. Kilwa scores are structured risk rankings, not validated predictive models, except where a report explicitly states otherwise. Kilwa does not hold, trade or take positions in the securities, currencies or instruments of the markets it scores, and receives no compensation from any government, issuer or institution in exchange for a score, a rating or coverage.