LUSAKA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Tuesday appealed to cooperating partners to help finance the successful holding of the country's first-ever electronic population census which has faced a financial deficit.

Situmbeko Musokotwane, the Minister of Finance and National Planning said the government has faced challenges in financing the exercise scheduled to start next month.

In his virtual address to cooperating partners during a roundtable meeting, the minister said various challenges have emerged in the past few years due to a rise in commodity prices.

He however said despite the financial challenges, the government has so far managed to secure various equipment such as motorbikes, vehicles, bicycles and tablets in readiness for the exercise and thanked cooperating partners who have come on board.

Mulenga Musepa, the Interim Statistician-General of the Zambia Statistics Agency, said during the same meeting that factors like inflation and the exchange rate of the local currency against major convertible currencies have led to the budget for the exercise rising.

Gift Malunga, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Representative called on cooperating partners to help Zambia conduct the exercise because it was vital in providing timely data.

He further announced a donation of another 2,500 bicycles.

The first-ever electronic census has suffered postponements on a number of occasions. It was initially supposed to have been held in August 2020 but was pushed to 2021 before being pushed to August this year.

Zambia conducts a Census of Population and Housing every decade. The last census was conducted in 2010. Enditem

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