My take on budget speech 2022: external debt stock
Dear Editor,
SO much has been said about Zambia’s external debt in the last ten months. One group claims the debt is around US$12 billion while the other claims it is US$37 billion.
It has been extremely hard to get verifiable information on the external debt from any official government document.
Considering the huge quantum of the difference (US$12 billion and US$30 billion), I was hoping that the Auditor General Report 2020 would have capture information on this. But alas, there no of this very important matter in the report.
I normally depend on the Budget speeches to capture such information. According to Budget 2021 speech presented to Parliament last year in September, the external public debt stock was reported to have increased to US$11.97 billion as at end-June 2020 from US$11.48 billion at the close of 2019, representing an increase of 4.3.
However, UPND in opposition disputed these figures. The party estimated figures to be over US$30 billion.
Now that the UPND is in government, and is presenting its first budget in the next few days, my main interest is the section where the external debt stock will be reported. And hopefully, an explanation on the debt stock will be elaborate so as to bring this matter to rest.
In this regard, we expect concrete, verifiable evidence on the external debt stock from the Minister not just empty state ments or rhetoric.
Our desire is to have a Budget speech which is credible, and presents to the public information that is reliable.
“So, Finance Minister Musokotwane, please prepare ade quately on this. Your budget speech should have an annex or appendix which breaks down the debt and presents concrete data, not the traditional one figure mentions of the external debt stock.
“Just like your party never accepted the external debt stock figures that were stipulated in the Budget speech 2021, there will be no reason whatsoever for us to believe your figures in the Budget speech 2022 without you presenting proof thereof.
“All the best as you finalise your Budget speech, but please be conscious of this issue. We need concrete, reliable evidence. We need a break down of this debt. Otherwise, your integrity and credibility as a party, and its government stands to suffer greatly. So, please, play no politics on this issue.”