{
  "title": "Firm Growth in Zambia",
  "publication": "Selected Issues Papers, September 24, 2025",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/selected-issues-papers/issues/2025/09/23/firm-growth-in-zambia-570659",
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  "summary": "Firm growth in Zambia remains subdued, undermining the country’s potential to create jobs, raise productivity, and drive economic transformation.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Summary findings",
      "content": "- Firm growth in Zambia remains subdued, undermining the country’s potential to create jobs, raise productivity, and drive economic transformation.\n- Formal businesses face persistent barriers—most notably limited access to finance, unreliable electricity supply, and competition from a large informal sector.\n- Empirical analysis (using data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys and cross-country entrepreneurship benchmarks) indicates:\n  - Firms with access to credit and stable infrastructure grow significantly faster.\n  - Firms facing severe constraints underperform.\n- Zambia’s rate of new business entry remains low compared to aspirational peers, reflecting deeper regulatory and financial constraints."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Analysis and implications",
      "content": "- Constraints identified (limited access to finance, unreliable electricity, competition from a large informal sector) directly affect firm performance and contribute to Zambia’s low rate of new business formation.\n- Slow firm growth and low new business entry impede structural transformation by limiting the shift of labor into more productive, formal sector employment.\n- Scaling up existing businesses and enabling structural transformation require addressing both regulatory and financial constraints alongside infrastructure shortcomings."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy recommendations (as indicated in the paper)",
      "content": "- Remove key barriers to firm growth to:\n  - Scale up existing businesses.\n  - Support structural transformation by facilitating the shift of labor into more productive, formal sector employment.\n- Prioritize policies that improve access to credit for firms and enhance the stability and reliability of infrastructure, notably electricity.\n- Address regulatory constraints and limitations arising from competition with a large informal sector."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Publication and metadata",
      "content": "- Author: Daniel Gurara\n- Publication date: September 24, 2025\n- Series: Selected Issues Paper No. 2025/126\n- Volume: 2025\n- Issue: 126\n- Pages: 16\n- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229025225.018\n- Stock No: SIPEA2025126\n- ISBN: 9798229025225\n- ISSN: 2958-7875\n- Subjects: Commodities, Electricity, Financial inclusion, Financial markets, Labor, Production, Productivity, Self-employment\n- Keywords: Business Expansion, business formation, Electricity, Entrepreneurship, Financial inclusion, Firm Growth, firm growth in Zambia, Global, Jobs, Labor, Labor Market, New Business Formation, Productivity, Self-employment, Structural Transformation, Sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia, Zambia's rate\n\nSource: Firm Growth in Zambia (Selected Issues Papers), Daniel Gurara, September 24, 2025.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- Firm Growth in Zambia; IMF Selected Issues Paper No. 2025/126; June 30, 2025\n  - Firm Growth in Zambia; IMF Selected Issues Paper No. 2025/126; June 30, 2025 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Firm Growth in Zambia; IMF Selected Issues Paper No. 2025/126; June 30, 2025 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/selected-issues-papers/issues/2025/09/23/firm-growth-in-zambia-570659"
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    "Authors: Daniel Gurara",
    "Published: September 24, 2025",
    "Series: Selected Issues Papers",
    "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229025225.018",
    "Firm growth in Zambia remains subdued, undermining the country’s potential to create jobs, raise productivity, and drive economic transformation.",
    "Formal businesses face persistent barriers—most notably limited access to finance, unreliable electricity supply, and competition from a large informal sector.",
    "Empirical analysis (using data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys and cross-country entrepreneurship benchmarks) indicates:",
    "Zambia’s rate of new business entry remains low compared to aspirational peers, reflecting deeper regulatory and financial constraints.",
    "Constraints identified (limited access to finance, unreliable electricity, competition from a large informal sector) directly affect firm performance and contribute to Zambia’s low rate of new business formation.",
    "Slow firm growth and low new business entry impede structural transformation by limiting the shift of labor into more productive, formal sector employment.",
    "Scaling up existing businesses and enabling structural transformation require addressing both regulatory and financial constraints alongside infrastructure shortcomings.",
    "Remove key barriers to firm growth to:",
    "Prioritize policies that improve access to credit for firms and enhance the stability and reliability of infrastructure, notably electricity.",
    "Address regulatory constraints and limitations arising from competition with a large informal sector.",
    "Author: Daniel Gurara",
    "Publication date: September 24, 2025",
    "Series: Selected Issues Paper No. 2025/126",
    "Volume: 2025",
    "Issue: 126",
    "Pages: 16",
    "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229025225.018",
    "Stock No: SIPEA2025126",
    "ISBN: 9798229025225",
    "ISSN: 2958-7875",
    "Subjects: Commodities, Electricity, Financial inclusion, Financial markets, Labor, Production, Productivity, Self-employment",
    "Keywords: Business Expansion, business formation, Electricity, Entrepreneurship, Financial inclusion, Firm Growth, firm growth in Zambia, Global, Jobs, Labor, Labor Market, New Business Formation, Productivity, Self-employment, Structural Transformation, Sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia, Zambia's rate",
    "**Firm Growth in Zambia; IMF Selected Issues Paper No. 2025/126; June 30, 2025**"
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