DEBT REPAYMENTS SURPASS STATE’S RECURRENT EXPENSES
NAIROBI
Debt servicing costs have for the first time surpassed recurrent expenditures such as salaries, allowances and government administrative expenses, underlining the pressing burden on taxpayers.
Treasury secretary Ukur Yatani says in the latest disclosures total debt repayments, which are largely being driven by fast-maturing commercial and semi-concessional loans, amounted to Sh638.29 billion in the eight-month period through February 2021,
This represented a 32.13 percent jump over Sh483.08 - billion in a similar period a year earlier, powering debt service costs to become the single largest expenditure from the exchequer in the period.
The data shows cash wired to domestic and external creditors was Sh5.71 billion, or 0.9 percent, more than the Sh632.58 billion State ministries, departments and agencies spent on government’s general administration expenses and wages.
The Jubilee administration has ramped up spending since 2013 to build new highways, a modern railway, bridges and electricity plants.
Increased expenditure has driven up borrowing from
Sh1.89 trillion in June 2013 to projected Sh7.66 trillion by end of the current financial year in June to plug resultant budget deficit because of persistently gaping revenue shortfalls – pointing to the country’s weak forecasting methods for future revenues and fiscal deficits.
The debt financing cost in the July 2020-February 2021 period was Sh294.84 billion, or 85.85 percent, more than the Sh343.45 billion channelled to development projects (Sh163.91 billion) and the 47 counties (Sh179.55 billion.
The Parliamentary Budget Office – a professional unit which advises lawmakers on financial and economic matters – says “debt repayment may be crowding out development expenditure.”
The unit has cited reduction in the share of development expenditure to gross domestic product (GDP) – the value of economic output – from 6.2 percent in Jubilee administration’s first financial year in office (2013/14) to 5.9 percent in the year ended June 2020.
THE report by the Sunday Nation through its edition of Sunday, March 14, 2021 regarding some unscrupulous and overzealous Zambians who have a tendency of abusing the Immigration Department to harass foreign traders to forego their debt obligations toward the merchandise dlly supplied to them is an urgent call for action by relevant authorities.
From the outset, we find it strange that some Immigration Officers can also fall into the games of unpatriotic and crooked Zambians yet we have rarely heard if the department has taken any punitive measure against Zambians in this habit.
However, we will address the Immigration Department toward the end of our write up, in the meantime we turn to unpatriotic citizens with this tendency.
It is a fact that most Lusaka business immigrants are exemplary hardworking and if emulated, this has potential to stimulate the growth of local driven enterprises.
In most instances, the foreign business owners do not want to leave anything to chance but are willing to go to greater lengths till the last drop of their blood sweat to earn and mop every available coin.
Their attitude toward work is exemplary and worth emulating like I did prior to starting my company last year.
Personally, I run a company together with my young brother and we operates a transport business in Chingola and our business success is incomplete without attributing it to the business knowledge gathered from foreigners.
Prior to our commencement of business operations at my company, we did wide consultations among the industry players, mostly foreigners regarding their success story.
One of the issues that came out prominently during our consultations was the need to take responsibility of one’s attitude toward business. Gladly, my company has given us a return for our investment and we reinvested profits and recently we acquired another vehicle and my company is yet to import more buses in June from Japan.
Using that personal experience, the point I wish to drive home is that the local businesses should learn good practices from foreigners rather than the growing envy and abuse of state institutions and resort to unwarranted harassment.
The overzealous Zambian citizen must appreciate that Zambia has sufficient Immigration laws and there is a reliable way of detecting illegal immigrants. The Zambians who are customers should not turn themselves into law enforcement agencies and should honour debt obligations.
On the other hand, the Immigration Officers is therefore advised not to be used as an institution to settle scores on matters that are contractual in nature.
In an event the Immigration Department establish that the complaints are malicious, they have sufficient penal laws which can be activated to bring the misbehaving Zambians to book.
It should be appreciated that the lawlessness committed by the Zambian against the foreigner is prosecuted in the same way offences committed against Zambians are prosecutable. The honest entrepreneurs are entitled to secure protection before the law.
The revelations are too serious to be ignored and if left unchecked have the potential to spill over and escalated to jeopardise the diplomatic relation between Zambia and other countries.
Lastly, as members of the governing Patriotic Front, we are well informed that our republican and party President, Mr Edgar Lungu, has this inclusivity and co-existent agenda to accelerate economic development.
Therefore, we will not fail our President but take it upon ourselves and ensure that every person who is legally in Zambia is protected. We are also interested to know if the said Zambians are conniving with officers in the Department of Immigration and if true, we will not hesitate to recommend for relevant action.
If such officers indeed exist, then they are bad seeds who should be shown an exit door as Zambia is not short of unemployed youths who can take up their jobs to serve everyone with equality. MARVIN CHANDA MBERI, Lusaka.