ZAMBIA’s external debt is estimated to have increased marginally by 1.8 percent to US$3.13 billion as at end of September 2013, from US$3.08 billion as at end of 2012.
This increase was on account of net disbursements on the existing loan portfolio, Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda says.
“The interest paid on the current external debt portfolio as at September 30, 2013 was US$90.78 million. As at September 2013, the stock of domestic debt, including arrears, stood at K18.52 billion representing an increase of 22.5 percent from K15.12 billion at the end of 2012.
“As a result, interest payments on Government securities rose by 40.8 percent to K1.69 billion at the end of September, 2013 from K1.20 billion in the corresponding period last year. The rise in the stock is largely on account of higher borrowing induced by the need to increase efforts to grow the economy,” Mr Chikwanda said in his budget address to Parliament on Friday.
To support the provision of long-term financing to the private sector, he said the Government approved issuance of Kwacha-denominated bonds by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and African Development Bank.
Subsequently, in September 2013, the IFC successfully issued a five-year K150 million bond.
According to the minister, these resources are now available to the private sector for investment in Zambia’s economy.
He said with regard to fiscal policy, Government undertook measures to address long-standing structural challenges relating to fuel and maize subsidies as well as distortions in the public service pay structure.
“This was done to reinforce fiscal prudence, as well as enhance productivity for better public service delivery.
As a result of these developments, the projected fiscal deficit for 2013 will be 8.5 percent of gross domestic product, compared to the budget estimate of 4.5 percent,” he said.
When we told you that a country can not be managed by a guy who has never seen the in side of a school you insulted us…
Ati man of action …. the man is simple a F.OOL
The result of putting a gang of thieves in power
Your argument is shallow.All the economies in the world are in serious external debt.The USA leads the pack followed by UK.Zambias situation is not unique.
The have ability to pay… you small country with a GDP of US$18bn simply has no ability to pay US$3bn
Besides you are now half way to Zambians all time high of US$7bn which you failed to pay for decades
And guess who landed Zambia with a debt of US$7bn? The same Chikwanda you have as Finance minister today… Good luck we will be watch you from afar while enjoying a nice cold beer
And at this rate… back to US$7bn debt in 2016…. a classical example of how its important to have a president with grey matter… not a chamba smoker
Its takes two years for a villager to destroy a country… and 5 years to be completely done
My brother i dont know why you are wasting your time responding to this soulousi chap.\
I have followed both your arguments saoulousi or what ever he calls him self can not understand basic economics???
You may be dealing with a GRADE SEVEN.
Dont answer him you know the saying iam sure NEVER ARGUE WITH A FOOL.
Grade 7 drop-outs should never have been allowed to run grz. in just 2 years we have been brought to were KK took 20yrs to get us!!!!
You are insulting grade 7’s…. which school did this villager goto?
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Just concentrate on your engineering. You seem not to understand what you talking about. Last time I checked there was much to do with finaance in any engineering curriculum.
Just concentrate on your engineering. You seem not to understand what you talking about. Last time I checked there wasnt much to do with finance in any engineering curriculum.
Just like the USA economy right ? I can see some parallels there.This ain`t too good.Damn !!!!
Well the US had ability to pay… Zambia has none. Soon you will be going cup in hand begging for debt forgiven. Black just don’t learn especially with a village masquerading as a president
Stop cheating yourself imwe ba Engineer. Do you know how long the debt in the US has been outstanding ? And do you know that the US is currently under threat of defaulting on its debt ? Please stop talking about the ability to pay because this debt thing has hit most of the countries in the world.
I do nit think you know your economics… the US is now running the lowest budgets deficit in years due to the return of manufacturing ti the US as the US is now becoming self sufficient in energy production which is fuelling manufacturing. For the first time since world war two the uS is nor producing more energy than it imports…
US debt in real terms is actually falling….
What is happening at Capital Hill is political posturing not the ability to pay debt…
Get your facts right
Come on ba Engineer.I might be a natural sciences student but it is easy to see that the US economy is also in free fall.The World Bank president Jim Yong Kim had this to say a few days ago “The United States is just days away from a very dangerous moment because of the government’s borrowing crisis.” I will come back for this debate my dear Engineer, let me just attend a meeting.
What do you mean free fall? You need to understand whats happening in the USA. The US govern has a ceiling on debt borrowing which is regulated by the senate unlike your country were its regulated at statehouse..
Its not the ability not to pay because of no money by the US. Its a regulatory issue which is good to avoid reckless borrowing. This is what you need to have in your country – Zambia. Government borrowing regulated by parliament with a debt ceiling.
You seem not to know what you are talking about… the US is a third of the world GDP. How many american can sign a check for US$18bn of you Zambian GDP? Many. Did you know that Apple has US$210bn cash on its balance sheet? thats just a company… stick to natural science you might do better
Saulosi young man, the US is under threat of defaulting not coz of inability to pay but because of the stubbornness of the Republicans. You will never hear ba America asking for debt forgiveness the way we inevitably will. Compare oranges with oranges and not with tomatoes.
@Engineer everyone is borrowing money.I can’t see what can stop Chikwanda if Obama can borrow 1.2 trillion dollars from China.The current external debt for the USA currently stands at 60 trillion dollars.Obama has actually borrowed more than any US president before.The whole world is in serious shi.t. Chikwanda and others are even trying.Remove your political spectacles and look at the bigger picture.
For your information the whole of Europe including the UK is implementing what called Budget cuts….to avoid borrowing…
Your government has 70 ministers
Don’t be cheated…
Obam on Monday boasted that during his time in office the US budget deficit has been cut in half. In remarks commemorating the fifth anniversary of the onset of the financial crisis of 2008, Mr. Obama cited the deficit reduction as a sign of progress for an economy that’s still struggling toward full recovery.“Our deficits are now falling at the fastest rate since the end of World War II. I want to repeat that. Our deficits are going down faster than anytime since before I was born,” said Obama.Strictly speaking, yes. The deficit is falling as rapidly as it has in decades. Consider the figures for this year alone: Last week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that, through the first 11 months of fiscal 2013, the budget deficit was down 35 percent from the comparable period of 20
Budget cuts after learning the hard way ? Ha ha ha.
In 2008, the deficit was about $458 billion. In 2009, it rocketed up to $1.4 trillion. It stayed above the trillion-dollar mark for 2010 through 2012.
As the economy has gradually recovered, those cyclical expenses have receded. Tax revenues have risen modestly along with the slowly rising gross domestic product. The FY 2013 shortfall should end up at around $642 billion, according to the CBO.
Miss Saulosi, no need to start lying young lady. Current US debt stands at $16 trillion, not sixty, comprende?
Come on PF cadres! You can’t compare the Zambian indebtedness to the US one. For starters the US$ is the world’s Reserve Currency. Simply put the USA can print its own money to pay its international creditors. The villagers from Chitulika village running your country don’t have this luxury. None of your international creditors will accept to be paid in your useless Kwacha. Not even the African development Bank! So stop the crap!
I always support Saulosi on many issues, but on this one you are dead wrong. The USA is not on a free fall. The debt ceiling is a political issue and not an indication of a falling economy. I hate to say it, but The Engineer is right. And Miss Saulosi what are you talking about? you are comparing Chikwanda to Obama all my God. you say that Obama has actually borrowed more than any US president before. He is the only president that has faced the huge economic crisis after the Great Depression. He had to borrow to save the country from total collapse. Please get your facts.
These PF opportunists are much busier managing internal rifts and enemy fire from the opposition such that the economy is on auto pilot.Our debt will skyrocket and our economy will be in full free fall by 2016.
These imbwas have mess up our country. They will need to be caged
Welcome back to earth Saulosi,yes thing are not looking good.its only 2 years so no worries at all.lol
No, Mr. Minister. There is an additional increase of 60% following the proposed borrowing of K10 Billion (US$1.85 Billion) in the 2014 budget bringing the external debt to US$4.98 Billion. None of this (US$4.98 Billion) has gone to North Western Province…when we go federal, remember this fact. Mukalipila mwebeni.
Please note that this was as at 30 September 2013. According to the budget we are looking at additional borrowings of about $2.5 billion. Back in the day when we were in deep doo doo with the HIPC issue and all that trouble, our debt stood at $7 billion. We managed to bring that under control under the prudent and educated governance of people who knew what they were doing. If you do the math, by mid 2014, our debt will rise to over $5 billion. Friends of mine, what say you to this kind of leadership? Those who are hoping Sata will miraculously come out of his slumber and show real leadership are deeply delusional. We are in deep kaka.
Some people can not simply see it…. its a case of a blind man leading
It’s a worrying issue. We have in the past blogged against the reckless borrowing for political expedience. We complained over the borrowing to fund unbudgeted projects just to gain some points from the undecerning. At $3B in two years in office and a further $2.5B next year is bad omen for the next 2years. The projected 6% economic growth based on only mining operations is not a prudent economic basis. Unlike the US that a certain section is comparing has a huge manufacturing and agricultural base. There needs to be a curb on Zambia’s borrowing. The concerned will have to be answerable to economic sabotage.
The MMD was reducing debts and managed to do so, but these F.o.o.l.s have got no scope they are just borrowing for them to enrich themselves.
Not good for our nation,can someone advise
That whats is meant to be uncivliased or uneducated.
Hungry wild dogs have come to run our country,if we don’t crop & cage them before they start breeding this country will be like in unip days.
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG IN BORROWING AS LONG AS YOU ARE INVESTING THE MONEY IN INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS WITH SIGNIFICANT PROJECTED POSITIVE NET PRESENT VALUE BENEFITS, AND WITHIN A”REASONABLE” TIME!!!
The Greek government debt currently stands at 299 billion Euros which is 130% of its GDP.The Zambian government debt stands at 37% of its GDP and to me this is a sustainable debt
The problem my brother is that we are borrowing and we are failing to monitor expenditure.
We don’t just borrow because others are doing the same!
The Greek economy came to a stand still. Do you want us to reach those levels as well?
Good point. Explain the mechanism. How is it sustainable.
these 1diots must be flushed out of government much earlier than 2016to save our country from total collapse . this is the result when majority of voters are illiterates and originate from a primitive group of society who vote based on tribe without considering the education of the candidate. shame on you kambwili and gbm
Some mad man drove Zambia into debt in the 1980s and has continued to do so. I hope Chikwanda will save us
Please tell me you are being sarcastic, because this is the same man who drove us into that debt
HOW WILL CHIKWANDA SAVE US ?
The federal budget deficit will fall to $759 billion for the fiscal year that ends this September, a $214 billion improvement from the projection made in March, as spending cuts, tax increases and an improving economy begin to tame the government’s red ink, the White House budget office said on Monday.
This what happens when you issue presidential directives carelessly eg creation of districts and stadia.
This what happens when you issue presidential directives carelessly eg creation of districts and stadia.
U.S.A.sell weapons they can pay.
Comparing the US enconmy to that of Zambia? Get real guys!!
Zambia getting poorer by the day, while “ilunda Chalo corporation” gets filthy rich.
That’s BUSH ECONOMICS for you!!!
I am laughing all the way to the bank you woke up at 04 hours to go and vote even changed your pens to make sure your put people who will deliver you to the promised land you said for 20 years MMD did nothing you closed your eyes to the many successes the achieved they limited development to within their means because they knew the struggles they went through in having the debt cancelled but they who did not are in terrific speed to return you to those hard painful the choice was ours because chanda chimba iii warned us.
Congratulations chikwanda for getting that ka country mired in debt again, you did it in the 70s and you have ‘did it’ again. lol
once government changes, everyone who has worked or know anything about ILUNDA CHALO should be arrested to account for this rubbish.
And our biggest and more immediate danger comes from the domestic debt which has risen by 22.5% in one financial 2013 alone. Sooner or later we have to clear this debt as we can not continue to borrow in order to pay as this is unsustainable because of the attendant interest payments. A situation will soon arise when we will need to print in order to pay and we will end up like Zimbabwe with 4 figure inflation or GRZ will default and our Banks will collapse like dominoes and we will end up like the Greeks as the financial crisis hits the real economy. At least the Greeks have beaches where they can sun tan between demonstrations and they have the Germans to bail them out.
We need to listen to arguments of the Australian engineer, few others and not the PF cadres with no knowledge.
Exactly,he’s the voice of reason and sound economics.
There are no bases for comparisons between the US and Zambia. The US is developed and a superpower – also the world’s largest economy. Comparing the two is simply a worrying level of ignorance.
lets just continue borrowing after all we have plenty of land and water to pay our debtors
Let the principle work. If Chikwanda and the rest can’t run BOZ and the Economy we go for early elections. UPND can do better, then after UPND we will have NAREP
UNIP 27 Years
MMD 20 Years
PF 5 Years
UPND 5 Years
NAREP 5 Years
Kwasila
I read the budget speech am still wandering are by-elections budgeted for? How much did he indicate as meant for the remaining opposition seats that have to be nullified ?
Some peoples understanding of issues is really misplaced, one wonders what goes through their heads, what a sorry sight!
@Miss Saulosi
The US debt currently stands at $16T and not $60T. Up to 2000 it was $1T, and in 2008 when Obama came to power it was $11T. So, Obama had effectively accrued $5T in six years of being in power.
Amazing how we so easily forget. I wasn’t too long ago when everybody in Zambia knew what “essential commodities” were. You wake up early in the morning to go and hunt and line-up for mealie meal, cooking oil, bath soap, sugar etc. Much relief came when Zambia’s $7 billion external debt was forgiven. Now we are running back into debt at the fastest speed possible. At $7 billion, Zambia had failed to pay just the interest on the debt (called debt servicing). The same Chikwanda was at the helm and drove the economy to dregs. Now it’s chapter two and Mr. Chikwanda is back at it again, borrowing as much because they must have more money in their pockets since the 90 minutes of regulation time are about to expire and it will soon be injury time! How soon we forget!
And sata has increased his salary for the third time since assuming office…..this is effected October 8th, 2013………….i seriously dont understand this Guy