Zambia Plans Mine-Tax Concessions While Trimming Budget Deficit

Zambia plans to reduce its budget deficit next year, even as it makes further cuts to copper mining royalties, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said.

The spending shortfall will shrink to 7.7% of gross domestic product in 2023, from a revised 9.8% forecast for this year, Musokotwane told lawmakers Friday in Lusaka, the capital. Restructuring the royalty system in Africa’s second-biggest copper producer will cost the government 2.8 billion kwacha ($178 million) in lost revenue next year, he said.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd., which accounts for more than half of Zambia’s copper production, stands to benefit the most. Its shares ...