Sun, 02 Apr 2017 09:46:58 +0000
By OSCAR MALIPENGA
I AM not aware of plans by the government to borrow US$500 million from Russia’s VTB Bank for eurobond debt, Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Finance Mr. Mukuli Chikuba has charged.
Yesterday, The Mast Newspaper edition No. 0143 dated April 1, 2017, published a story under the headline “Govt to borrow $500m from Russia for Eurobond debts.”
“The PF government has planned to borrow up to $500 million from Russia’s VTB Bank to meet the growing shortage of foreign currency for interest rates payment on Eurobond after failing to clinch an IMF loan, according to sources,” read the first paragraph of the article.
But the permanent secretary in the ministry, who said he had not read the paper, said he was not aware of such plans.
Mr. Chikuba said plans to borrow $500million from a Russian bank to settle Eurobond debt was news to him.
“Frankly speaking, I am not aware of such plans this is news to me,” Mr. Chikuba said.
According to the article in The Mast, Cabinet office sources said the Ministry of Finance was hoping that a loan from the International Monetary Fund was going to help the country in paying interest rates but with President Edgar Lungu not supporting the programme, Finance Minister Felix Mutati was forced to look elsewhere.
