Cabinet has approved the contraction of four loans totaling US$541 million.
Speaking at a media briefing in Lusaka today following the 28th Cabinet meeting held yesterday, Acting Chief Government Spokesperson Vincent Mwale said cabinet approved the contraction of a loan from the Export and Import Bank of China amounting to US$128 million to support the implementation of the Kafue bulk water supply project which will facilitate the provision of clean water and sanitation facilities as well as mitigate health risks in Lusaka.
He says cabinet also approved the contraction of a loan from the industrial and commercial bank of China amounting to US$ 170 million to support the implementation of the Nkana water supply and sanitation project phase two.
Mr. Mwale says cabinet further approved the contraction of loans from the African Development Bank amounting to US$ 193 million and US$50 million on behalf of the Africa together Fund to support the implementation of the Chinsali-Nakonde road rehabilitation project.
And Cabinet has approved the conversion of all debt owed to Government by the four selected State owned enterprises amounting to over K3.4 billion equivalent to US$299 million as at 31st December, 2014 into equity.
Mr. Mwale named the four companies as Zambia Railways Limited, ZESCO, Zamtel and Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia.
He says the decision by Cabinet to convert the debt into equity is to clean up the balance sheets of the companies so as to make them efficient profitable and attractive for investment thus facilitate creation of value for government investments.
Mr. Mwale says the decision will make these public companies more viable and attract new investment without relying on government guarantees for them to obtain financing for expansion.
More and more loans!!!! When does it stop?
Obviously Lungu was like, “guys before they kick us out of government, let’s loot more so that next president akachimvele..”. Can elections come quicker please before the Chinese government owns the whole of Zambia as collateral?
I have probably never read a more intellectual, patriotic and foresighted comment as this one in a long time! Almost 50 years ago, there was the British Colonization of Zambia. Almost 50 years later, there is no undoubted scary Chinaization of Zambia. We should be afraid. Very very afraid for our children and their children. When are elections again?
The government has done a commendable job to borrow for good causes. Half of Kitwe has water supply problems and if you look at Lusaka it has been growing at a faster rate without corresponding investment in water supply. This debt is worth contracting only a blind cadre can not see sense in it.
These loans are really totalling up. How are they to be paid back by the way? Considering we are not producing much of anything.
Reply to Spark Jarrow,
I wonder if you went to school and be able to understand what a loan is and it’s conditions for every loan there are conditions and Terms of payment.In this period of time there is no condition which says that failure to pay the loan then the country will be colonized or enslaved.
When you hear that they the PF have got a loan buy the Government Gazette read how they got that loan.
Harold Muma,
I think I need to be subscribing to Lusaka times so that I can have a column to be answering some simple questions troubling the people of Zambia especially the Grade 12 graduates.
Yes loans will come to any total amount and payments are projected and submitted to the Creditors who goes through and assess the projection of how you will pay,if they are satisfied then sometimes the debtors can be asked to even include the Extension in case of a default.
All the multi-corporation and financing companies their business is to give loans thats how they make money not to colonize people or a country.
What was the intent and purpose of Jubilee 2000, if solid due diligence is conducted as you have stated?
Colonialism may not take the form of occupation but economic puppeteering called neocolonialism. This means, your lenders begin to call the shots in some if not all of your strategic areas, effectively controlling the course of your country’s history. Keep in mind, when we are negotiating loans, we always do so from a weak position. Always on our knees, while they stand tall and tower above us.
The items for which the PF is borrowing does not seem to have the potential to yield, contribute to or enhance the capacity to pay. For an administration that is struggling to make payroll, any lender that does not recognize that is perceived to be Predatory.
This is is what we must…
The syntax in your writing is so glaringly bad (especially in the second paragraph) that I can not make sense of what point you are struggling to put across. Beyond the deficiency of your argument, there is a large poverty of how you argue your point. It seems to me that you could as well be in the same class of Grade 12 graduates you are seemingly belittling.
Zambia among Africa’s best
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Posted in Headlines, News on December 29, 2015 by Online User
PRESIDENT Lungu (right) with State House deputy Minister Mulenga Sata after the 28th Cabinet Meeting at Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka yesterday. PICTURE: SALIM HENRY/STATE HOUSE
CHIMWEMWE MWALE, Lusaka
THE globally respected economic and social watcher Forbes has ranked Zambia the seventh best country for doing business out of 54 African countries.
This entails that the southern African country is better than 47 African peers, and that it is among the top 10 economies on the continent.
Forbes has also rated Zambia as one of the world’s fastest growing economies for the last 10 years, with real gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging between six…
MisChisha, do me a favor, will you?
Tell me who calculates Zambian GDP and how it is calculated. Who gathers the data and how it is gathered and while you are at it, tell me where it is archived.
In addition, I need an education on how unemployment is tracked and by whom?
Some of us never finished grade 12.
A loan or debt is not a grant, and will therefore have to be paid. These quoted loans are going into good investments, but the degree of indebtedness needs to be checked if country is not to fall into debt trap yet again.
@ 1+1 excellent analysis. You understand this stuff in a way few people can.
Mischisha, I am among the uneducated ones too a grade 10. From a microeconomics perspective can you please educate us on how CPI (consumer price index) is calculated? Prices, unemployment and economic growth! Lastly explain to how RGDP (real gross domestic product) works. I’m sure you already know its the total value of all final goods and services produced in a given time period such as a year, or quarter, adjusted for inflation. If we are to look at Real Income which is Normal Income/CPI x 100, you will realize that the living standards fall because Zambia’s revenue cannot keep up with inflation. How are we going to pay back these loans??