IMF, ZAMBIA CONFER
By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Ministry of Finance have discussed various aspects of strengthening the partnership between Zambia and the Fund.
This came to light during a meeting when IMF Resident Representative for Zambia, Preya Sharma yesterday paid a courtesy call on Finance Minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane.
The meeting discussed various aspects of strengthening the partnership between Zambia and the Fund, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance.
“The bilateral engagement, held at the Ministry of Finance headquarter in Lusaka, was the first between the IMF Resident Representative and the new Minister of Finance,” the statement stated.
The ministry also announced that Zambia a few days ago received US$1.3 billion from the US$650bn IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) general allocation.
It indicated that: “the resources from the IMF will assist the country to attain the development aspirations and lead to economic stabilisation and positive growth.”
Recently, Secretary to the Treasury, Fredson Yamba, said Government had committed to utilise the expected US$1.3bn SDRs in line with prudent fiscal management principles through the consultative Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and the national budget.
Mr Yamba said the resources from the IMF would assist the country to attain the aspirations of the Economic Recovery Programme and lead to economic stabilisation and positive growth.
Mr Yamba indicated that the expected US$1.3bn doubled the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
“To ensure effective checks and balances, special accounting and reports on the utilisation of the proceeds will also be undertaken,” Mr Yamba said.
