Govt set to meet official creditors
GOVERNMENT has started preparations for its first meeting with the country’s official creditors meant to agree on how much debt will be reduced to make it affordable for the nation to payback.
Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane disclosed during the 2023 national budget public symposium in Lusaka yesterday that the preparations are ongoing.
“We have set up a reasonable target and work very hard towards attaining it. Have we started negotiating with the creditors? No, not yet but very soon. Right now we are making preparations for the first meeting,” Dr Musokotwane said.
He pointed out that Government would leverage on the recent approved International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal and use it as a platform to negotiate with the creditors.
The IMF programme, Dr Musokotwane said, had enabled the government to negotiate with the creditors in the debt restructuring efforts.
“The IMF is a platform under which we can now negotiate with the creditors on how they can restructure their debt, on how they can reduce their debt so that it becomes affordable. The work for that started last year and now, we are way ahead in terms of getting the debt to be restructured,” Dr Musokotwane stated.
Speaking earlier, Finance and National Planning Permanent Secretary, Mukuli Chikuba said the symposium was meant to get details on the 2023 budget provisions and the policies that had been put up within the budget
Meanwhile, Bank of Zambia Governor, Denny Kalyalya said at the same function that the central bank would next year pilot a Credit Guarantee Scheme to support entities that could provide guarantees.