WE’RE IN CONTROL
...debt payments are on schedule
ZAMBIA has not defaulted on any foreign debt including Eurobond interest payments and does not intend to do so whatsoever, Government declared yesterday. The Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) which covered projections on all fiscal operations and debt service provided no room for default. Chileshe Kandeta, Head of Media and Public Relations in the Ministry of Finance said the ministry had received a copy of a report by Eurasia Group which raised a number of allegations regarding Zambia’s debt situation, fiscal matters and Government’s recent meetings with cooperating partners and investors.
As previously indicated by the Minister of Finance Ms Margaret Mwanakatwe in the ministry’s first quarter brief, Mr Kandeta said a recent debt statistics reconciliation exercise showed that Zambia’s debt stock as at December 2017 was as follows: External debt – US8.7 billion; domestic debt – K48.4 billion, and domestic arrears – K12.7 billion.
He added that no one had provided any proof or information on allegations that Government had hidden some debt despite the ministry having made such an appeal last month.
The spokesman said among the issues the Group’s report touched on included Government’s engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the electoral process, and alleged corruption.
He said Zambia had never backpedalled on the IMF programme, and reiterated Government’s commitment to the programme and to the creation of a platform under which the engagement with the IMF would be advanced.
“It is in this regard that a full Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) was undertaken. The results of DSA are now being finalised.
“Cabinet will be briefed on the outcomes of the exercise and on the executive decisions that are required to be undertaken to successfully finalise the engagement with the Fund,” the spokesman said.
Mr Kandeta appealed to stakeholders to avoid publishing unverified data, which had a tendency to mislead the public and cause unwarranted worry among investors and cooperating partners.
He said government had taken tough measures, which included the implementation of the Economic Stabilisation and Growth Programme that saw the removal of subsidies, introduction of legal reforms to strengthen public financial management and introduction of other structural reforms to ensure adherence to fiscal restraint.
“According to our records, no cooperating partner has so far complained on the adequacy and potency of these measures,” he said.
He explained that the Asset Liability Management Strategy on Zambia’s Eurobonds and for the loans from China was a prudent option that was open to Zambia and would be undertaken as and when the need and opportunity arose.
“This strategy will be a voluntary process for any creditor and will be done, if need arose, according to international debt and market standard practice,” he added.
He stressed that Government’s expenditure was focused on normal development programmes contained in the Seventh National Development Plan that had all the details of the projects being carried out.