By John Chola
Minister of Finance and National Planning, Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane has made a passionate appeal to Zambia’s Official Creditor Committee in their next meeting to make substantial progress in their deliberations.
Dr Musokotwane says this will facilitate preparation of the Memorandum of Understanding, so that parties may swiftly resolve the Southern African nation’s debt overhang and enable it access the next tranche of IMF financing.
Dr Musokotwane has warned in a statement that delays to debt restructuring are having a significant impact on the economy and the livelihoods of the over 17 million Zambians.
“We appreciate the significant effort from all of Zambia’s creditors as we work towards an agreement on debt restructuring, and we are grateful for the ongoing productive consultations,” Dr Musokotwane however noted.
He says the uncertainty created by the protracted restructuring process has put pressure on Zambia’s currency and made it difficult to attract much-needed foreign investment, despite Zambia’s vast natural resources and improved business climate.
“With support from the IMF, Zambia has played its part by making significant progress in implementing an ambitious reform agenda to stabilise our economy, increase transparency and borrowing oversight, as well as implement prudent spending reforms. Therefore, debt relief is urgently needed for Zambia to maintain its trajectory of economic recovery and growth,” said Dr Musokotwane.
From our side as Government, Dr Musokotwane added, we will continue to do all we do all we can to push for the members of the OCC to reach consensus so that we can bring this matter to a close”.
