《尚比亞貨幣狂貶！ 總統求上帝打救！納吉 我們該求誰？》
Zambia prepares for national prayer day to save currency！
（盧薩卡19日訊）貨幣狂貶，求助上帝？
非洲國家尚比亞近期貨幣克瓦查持續貶值，總統倫古星期日舉行「全國祈禱日」，希望透過祈禱的力量請求上帝「打救」跌入谷底的貨幣。
自今年初以來，受國際銅價暴跌影響，克瓦查兌美元也大跌了45%。銅礦是該國主要的出口之一。根據彭博新聞社所觀察的155個國家，尚比亞的克瓦查是其中跌幅最大貨幣。
經濟放緩導致該國糧食價格暴漲，而主要仰賴水力供電的尚比亞，亦因卡里巴湖水位下跌而面臨電力短缺危機，以致民不聊生。
倫古當天向在場約5千名群眾致詞時說：「上帝聽到了我們的哭聲，祂寬恕了我們的罪。在面臨嚴重的社會和經濟挑戰之際，我們非常確定祂會治癒我們的國家。」包括前總統卡翁達、班達等人出席了星期日的祈禱大會。
他也請求尚比亞人民幫忙出主意，主動提供協助政府對抗危機。
他說：「許多人都擁有聰明絕頂的點子，請他們站出來，我們是個開明的政府。我們不應趁國家陷入衰退或災難之際，追求政治上的成功，這樣受苦的是人民。」
輿論抨總統無能
尚比亞建國總統卡翁達也在現場祈禱，請求上帝幫助倫古解決國家危機。
為了這項祈禱大會，尚比亞足球總會宣布延後當天所有的賽事，政府也宣布，所有酒吧必須在當天6時之後才准營業。
不過，輿論抨擊倫古無力應對經濟問題，舉辦全國祈禱大會只是為了分散注意力。
納吉 我們該求誰？
《Zambia prepares for national prayer day to save currency》
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA
Zambia will hold a day of prayer and fasting on Sunday, with bars shut and football matches cancelled, to seek divine help over the country's currency collapse and dire economic woes.
President Edgar Lungu last month ordered the national prayer session after the kwacha fell 45 per cent against the dollar since the start of the year due to a sharp drop in the price of copper, the country's main export.
Food prices have soared and crippling power shortages have also been triggered by low water-levels in Lake Kariba, where hydropower plants supply much of the country's electricity.
"God is a god of miracles and if we ask him, he will bless us and the kwacha shall be restored to its former strength and the prices of goods shall again go down," Bishop Simon Chihana, president of the International Fellowship of Christian Churches in Zambia, told AFP.
"Let's pray to God to have mercy on us. God has done that before and he can do it again."
PRAYER GATHERING
A large prayer gathering is planned in the Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, where about 85 percent of the population are Christians.
The Zambian football association has postponed all games on Sunday and the government announced that bars should not open until 6:00 pm.
Critics of the government have accused Lungu of failing to tackle the causes of country's economy troubles, saying that the prayer day was a distraction.
"Stop the policy inconsistencies, put all economic fundamentals in place and then maybe you can pray," financial analyst Mambo Hamaundu told AFP.
Lungu came to power in January after the death of president Michael Sata last year.