Govt Writes IMF on Debt Sustainability

By Ruth Chayinda-Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu says Government has written to the International Monetary Fund -IMF -on measures the country has undertaken to achieve debt sustainability.Dr. Ng’andu says the next engagement with the fund will be held in March to discuss and determine the nature of support that it will provide.Speaking when he addressed Stakeholders on the State of the Economy, the Minister of Finance said Government will work with the IMF.Government and IMF held discussions last year on the recent economic developments and the economic outlook for 2020.Meanwhile, Dr Ng’andu also projected that the country will record above three percent economic growth and medium term growth while the fiscal deficit is projected to be 5.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.He said the fiscal deficit will account for measures Government is undertaking to enhance revenue collection and deal with the debt portfolio.And on debt management, the Minister said Government is currently reviewing the legal ramifications of undertaking debt re-profiling exercise and will also engage lenders and contractors .Dr. Ng’andu further said Government also plans to reduce the undisbursed debt by cancellation and rescoping of selected project loans with the aim of reducing the current undisbursed external debt of about 7 Billion US Dollars to about 5 billion US dollars.He noted that the rescoping exercise in the road sector will reduce the project costs from 10 billion kwacha to 1.4 billion Kwacha.And Mr Ng’andu also disclosed that the country’s stock of external debt has increased to 11.2 billion US dollars as of December from 10.23 billion dollars.Dr. Ng’andu explained that this is due to a new disbursement on existing loans earmarked for infrastructure development.He disclosed that the Government’s securities at the end of 2019 was 80. 2 billion Kwacha from 60.3 billion Kwacha because of the issuance of Governments securities to finance the budget deficit for 2019. Post Views: 2
News Source: ZNBC