Govt has asked for time over debt, minister tells Parley

GOVERNMENT has appealed to its creditors to support its request for the six months debt stand still to give relief to the budget.

Minister of Finance Bwalya Ng’andu indicated that the stand still would give Government space to develop a long term debt restructuring strategy.

The minister said therefore the bond holders to this effect were expected to cast a vote on Zambia’s request for a debt stand still.

If Zambia fails to reach an agreement with its commercial creditors, he said, including Eurobond holders on the terms of appropriate stand still the country with its limited fiscal space would be unable to make payments and therefore fail to foster accumulation of the debt.

He said this was why Government was calling upon the bond holders to support the government’s efforts for the request for a stand still for the period of six months.

“I want to emphasise the country’s desire to enter into a constructive, transparent and equitable dialogue with all our creditors as we undertake the debt restructuring process aimed at restoring debt sustainability. We had engagements with bond holder committee through our advisors and we are currently responding to questions that are being raised from the presentation of a stand still.

“The government has requested all its external creditors to agree to debt service suspension on the similar terms during the stand still period, the only foreign denominated debt that Zambia will continue paying on a current basis is debt from multilateral agencies and debt from few priority projects,” Dr Ng’andu said.