Zambia’s IMF plan cheers co-operating partners

Wed, 17 May 2017 10:34:06 +0000

By MUKOSELA KASALWE

DEVELOPMENT partners have unanimously supported the steps taken by Government to engage the International Monetary Fund and implement a home-grown stabilisation and growth programme dubbed Zambia-Plus, says Minister of Finance Felix Mutati.

Mr. Mutati said the development partners appealed to various wings of Government to speak with one voice on socio-economic development.

The minister said this when he briefed the partners on the country’s engagement with the IMF during the recently held Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, DC.

In a statement issued yesterday, ministry head of media and public relations Chileshe Kandeta said Cooperating Partners Group chairperson David Wiking, who is the Swedish head of cooperation, said the partners were grateful that the Zambian Government had continued with the spirit of dialogue.

Mr. Wiking said it was vital for the development partners to have a clear understanding to which extent Zambia’s engagement with the IMF had progressed and expressed gratitude for being part of the process of the country’s development.

He applauded the Government for displaying transparency not only in the formation of a home- grown stabilisation and growth programme but also in the way stakeholders have been informed and engaged and that they would follow the talks closely.

“Development partners are grateful for the transparency shown by the Zambian Government not only in the formation of a home-grown stabilisation and growth programme and but also in the way stakeholders have been informed and engaged.

“We will follow the GRZ/IMF talks closely,’’ Mr Wiking said.

Mr. Mutati affirmed that development partners were a critical component in the implementation of Zambia’s economic stabilisation and growth programme.

“Dialogue and engagement remains a central pillar in the process of economic governance and we will continue to dialogue with all interest groups such as the private sector, civil society, academia and ordinary Zambians in order to crystallize the local ownership of the stabilisation and growth programme,” Mr. Mutati said.

He said Government was on track with negotiations with the IMF and that they had gained momentum on various aspects of engagement, ‘‘including the type of support for the 2017 Budget and for our development plans from you our development partners’’.

Mr. Mutati attributed the positive sentiments from the development partners to the fiscal prudence and economic governance measures Government has instituted.

He said through such measures the aim was to optimize the efficient utilization of taxpayers’ money so as to improve public service delivery and create an environment in which profitable and sustainable local and foreign investments would be trebled, affirming that this was one way Government’s job creation and poverty reduction objectives would be met.

The Ministry of Finance has announced that the Lusaka Circuit of the GRZ/IMF engagement would reconvene at the end of May, 2017.

Mr Mutati said last month a Zambian delegation participated in the Washington Circuit of the IMF/GRZ talks on the side-lines of the 2017 IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington.

He said Zambia hoped to get on an IMF supported programme by the third quarter of 2017.