Govt must finance Euro bond - economist
GOVERNMENT has no option but to pay back the Euro bond which will mature in March as defaulting would send a wrong picture to the international community, an economist has said.Yusuf Dodia said that Government must find resources in order to pay back the bond.
Mr Dodia in an interview yesterday said it was prudent that Government finds means to ensure that the bond was paid back.
He said that defaulting would impact negatively on the nation as lenders would close doors to Zambia.
Mr Dodia also said if Government did not have means of paying back sell the bond which would help finance money for dismantling the debt.
“What we can do is that we find a customer to buy the bond, this is the only way we can find money to pay back the bond.
But we shall sell the bond at high interest, so that the one who will buy enjoy the high interest.
“When selling the bond we need to negotiate and we can agree that the one who will buy it will get 10 percent. This is the only way we can move away from defaulting,” he said.
He said it was important that the country pays back to continue its relationship with the international community.
Mr Dodia said once the country failed to pay back it would be difficult for Zambia to borrow again especially when it was in dare need of money for development. it could it will
A TOTAL of 290 tenders were processed in 2019 through the E-GP system and attracted over K3 million, Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) has said.
ZPPA Director General Christopher Chichoni said the company expects the number of tenders to increase this year because the authority had continued to add users to the E-GP system.
Mr Chichoni said procurement entities should endeavor to purchase within the framework agreement as outlined by the authority so as to allow more businesses to compete in public tenders.
He was speaking during the launch of the solicitation document for framework agreements yesterday in Lusaka and said the objective of the framework agreements was to set the terms governing the delivery of goods and services as required.
“Government is committed to ensuring that the market remains competitive for large, medium and small enterprises and create a level playing field by ensuring that procurement processes are guided by the public procurement Act and public procurement regulations,” Chichoni said.
He said ZPPA was mandated to regulate public procurements as stipulated by the public procurement Act no. 12 of 2018.
Mr Chichoni noted that during the year 2019, over 170 procuring entities submitted annual procurement plans to the authority.
However, during the year under review ZPPA noted poor record keeping, inadequate staffing and capacity in some of the procurement units, poor contract management among others.
“Despite the notable findings above it is the mandate of the authority to coordinate and promote capacity building and professional development in the public procurement systems,” he said.
He noted that the authority during the first quarter of 2019 suspended five bidders from participating in public procurement for a period of one year after conducting investigations and found them wanting..
“As at 31st December, 2019, a total of 28,453 suppliers were registered with ZPPA using the newly introduced E-GP system,” Chichoni noted.
He further urged all procurement entities to be above board when spending public funds, to be transparent and accountable in their execution of procurement duties.