By AARON CHIYANZO
THE UPND government must issue an authoritative ministerial statement on the actual national debt to stop speculations, former Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu has said.
This follows claims by the China Africa Research Initiative that Zambia’s debt to Chinese public and private lenders was US$6.6 billion when the previous government announced that the Chinese debt stood at US$3.3 million.
When contacted, Dr Ng’andu said there was too much speculation about the national debt.
He however said the Minister of Finance, Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane should end the speculation by telling the nation what the national debt was.
Dr Ng’andu said the minister had the actual figures of the real Chinese debt on his desk and that he should tell the nation the truth to stop the speculation.
He said the minister should issue an authoritative ministerial statement in Parliament, stating clearly what was owed to the Chinese.
“There is no point in speculating, why doesn’t the minister of Finance issue an authoritative ministerial statement on the debt on the floor of the House to stop the speculation because these are numbers? And the minister of Finance has the numbers,” Dr Ng’andu said.
Earlier last month, Dr Ng’andu dismissed claims by the new regime that the PF government had “hidden” some of the debt and did not make it public.
He challenged the UPND Government to name the creditors owed the “hidden debt” but they have given the challenge a deaf ear.
Efforts to get a comment from Government on the matters have proved futile.
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