By Chris Mfula LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia's kwacha hit a record low against the dollar on Friday on heavy selling by investors worried about power supply in Africa's number two copper producer and weakening copper prices. The sharp slide has renewed pressure on the southern African country to diversify its economy away from copper, which accounts for 70 percent of export earnings but whose global price has slumped. The kwacha fell more than 2 percent in early trade to 10.1500 per dollar, before clawing back to 10.0500 by 1433 GMT, still down 1.7 percent on the day. "Although 90 percent of what we are experiencing is externally triggered, we have always known that we are dependent on an export whose price we are not in control of," said Oliver Saasa, an analyst at Premier Consult. "This is a huge wake up call that you cannot depend on an export whose price you cannot control.” Last weekend, Treasury Secretary Fredson Yamba said the government would prioritise the rehabilitation of infrastructure such as roads to boost the tourism sector. Bank of Zambia Governor Denny Kalyalya said on Thursday that policymakers would not intervene in the foreign exchange market to defend the currency. The kwacha has suffered alongside other commodity currencies hit by an economic slowdown in key consumer China. "Many entities are likely to use the dollar as the currency of choice for transactions, thereby putting more pressure on the demand side," said analyst Peter Sitamulaho of the local Bonds and Derivatives Exchange. “The kwacha is afflicted by lack of price transparency, lack of liquidity, too few market participants dominated by less than six banks, the majority being international banks," he added. The kwacha would remain on the back foot as a resolution to global and domestic economic concerns were out of sight, Zambia National Commercial Bank said in a note. In addition to weak global prices, Zambian mines have also been hit by a power crunch, with one copper producer, China's NFC Mining, shutting down some of its operations at local operations as a result, according to a union. Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) owned by London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc has asked 133 employees to stay away from work on full pay while the company undertakes a review of the operations. The government has said it plans to build 17 hydro power generation plants and a thermal plant by 2030, which together will add over 4,000 MW to power supply.