This article examines the economic crisis of Zambia. Its origins are traced to falling copper prices combined with rising import bills. Like many developing country governments, Zambia responded to these developments by running up large deficits and borrowing heavily abroad. More recently, the government relied on printing money to finance its deficits. These responses have created a huge foreign debt and inflation problem. The only feasible long-term solution is to reduce the government deficit - the dilemma is how to do this without hurting the most vulnerable sections of the population.