Govt says Zambia now ready for IMF loan

Mon, 03 Apr 2017 11:58:41 +0000

ZAMBIA has acquired enough points to qualify for a loan facility of upto US $1.6 billion from the International Monetary Fund(IMF), Ministry of Finance permanent secretary Mukuli Chikuba has announced.

Mr Chikuba said Government was currently in discussion over the prospects of acquiring a loan facility from the IMF including how much of such facility it would get.

He said that Cabinet has not yet taken a position on the acquisition of the loan as many other issues needed to be addressed first before a decision to go for the loan could be undertaken.

He said Zambia had acquired sufficient points to obtain a loan facility of any amount between US $1.1 billion and US $1.6 billion which could be channeled to support development projects across Zamabia including infrastructure projects currently in progress.

“The Government has acquired enough points under the IMF loan system to qualify for a facility of upto US $1.1 billion to US $1.6 billion and as Government we are still studying the prospects of acquiring such funding, although we have not yet come up with an actual figure in terms of amount,” he said.

He said the Government through the Ministry of Finance was required to formulate various policy directives to ensure the facility benefited the poor people who were the primary targets for such a programme.

The Zambian Government in the past five years embarked on huge infrastructure developmental programmes aimed at improving job creation and facilitate investor confidence which attracts foreign investors into the local economy.

Meanwhile, Forum for Democratic Process (FODEP) executive director Chimfwembe Mwenge has appealed to Government to begin to enlighten the citizens on the benefits and the impact of the IMF loan under discussions.

Mr Mwenge said citizens must be made aware of the outcomes of such an IMF loan facility including the financial benefits obtained with the loan to encourage investor confidence in the Zambian economy.

 In a statement to the Daily Nation yesterday, Mr Mwenge explained that FODEP was concerned with the preparation of citizens on the short term hardships by providing adequate and regular information and platforms where they could obtain information to be clear on the outline of the sectors that would benefit from the loan.

“FODEP is also reiterating the need for Government to institute and explain the measures it will put in place to avert reported cases of mismanagement since fiscal discipline will require effective monitoring of expenditure and serious punitive measures for abuse or corruption. In the absence of serious monitoring measures, the IMF loan will be a wasted opportunity for Zambia,” he said.

Mr Mwenge  appealed to Government to allow access and provision of information to the people, and also proceedings of Government’s fiscal monitoring and expenditure controlling plans”.

He has since called on Members of Parliament (MPs) and other relevant ministries to begin engaging the Zambian people to educate them on the prospects of the loan as well as the short term negative implications on the economy such as tariff adjustments, removal of subsidies, and the repayment methodology.