Finance Minister Felix Mutati has revealed that Zambia is planning to reach an aid deal for as much as $1.6 billion with the International Monetary Fund by the end of April.
“At the moment we know that we can get up to $1.6 billion — if you ask me, I’d go for the maximum,” he said in an interview.
“Hopefully the program can be presented to the board sometime end of June, beginning of July.”
Mr Mutati said Zambia still needs to clarify to the IMF how it will pay off about $1.8 billion the government owes in arrears.
He spoke before flying to the U.S. to attend the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings that begin April 21.
Zambia has been talking about getting IMF aid since 2014, but resisted after two presidential elections since then made the required reforms politically unattractive.
The country’s fiscal deficit has risen, foreign-exchange reserves have declined, and economic growth is near the lowest since 1998, spurring the need for a program with the IMF.
Zambia’s debt has also been climbing, putting pressure on the Treasury.
Mr. Mutati said external debt has increased to $6.9 billion, that is more than double the level in 2012.
“Total government debt is about $10 billion, which is “pretty high,” he said.
Last week, Information Minister Kampamba Mulenga said cabinet agreed that the government conclude negotiations with the IMF.
Mrs. Mulenga said it considers a package as “necessary” for Zambia’s economic recovery.
The government has sold $3 billion in Eurobonds, the most recent being $1.25 billion in 2015. It is “not in a hurry” to issue another, and won’t do so this year, said Mutati.
Yields on the country’s three dollar bonds fell, with the rate on the $1 billion of debt due in April 2024 declining 14 basis points, the most since March 16, to 7.92 percent by 5:45 p.m. in Lusaka on Tuesday.
The yield on the 2022 bond dropped 13 basis points.
Excellent news
Thanks
BB2014,16
PROOF that Under the tenure of Lungu Zambia is going in the right places
IMF should borrow Zambia so that this government COMPLTES the work it has been doing.
We have seen NORMALITY come to the fore since the arresting of enemies of peace.
ALL ZAMBIANS are behind the work of this Government and we KNOW that this money will be well spent on the right areas.
Thanks
BB2014,2016
Find something better to do, rather than sleeping on LT to blog rubbish. Clearly, your life is so deprived and miserable.
Back to the topic. That money is going to buy Jemason and b!tches
Meanwhile Silly ZICTA is clossing CEC telecom for a basic technique that a high school kid in the West knows how to do…dont these chaps know about software development and engineering. Tapping softwares are now free and offer free VPNs in more than 190 countries…just download and activate “HideMyA$$” ribbon. All you need is a phone number of an !d!iot you are targeting, but the targetted !d!ot must be using a smart phone operating on either windows, iOS, or android. When the targetted receives a phone call and they answer, you imeditialy get a text message and you can choose to record the conversation or simply listen…That’s it. Be literate ba 3rd world country called Zambia!!
This is what PF cadres want to hear because they know money to play around with will be available even when we continue to go down the tunnel as a nation. When are we going to stop this rubbishi of borrowing. Even in your home you cant continue borrowing thats why the taxes are really killing an already burdened suffering Zambian.
Mutati will be going to a BORROWERS SUMMIT.
Last time I checked IMF aid came with conditionalities like adhererence to human rights.I will be shocked if Mutati comes back with anything.
When are you going to change your profile picture? I’m tired seeing the same ugly pic together with same fun name Mushota.
Be dynamic like UPND and it’s leader HH.
HH is very happy to be arrested because that’s what he has been dying for. But this mentality of wanting to go to jail and then became president is outdated like the profile picture of Mushota.
Regards
Hmm that English coming from an “intellectual “. IMF should borrow Zambia Ba Mushots…I learnt in grade 5 that it should read..IMF should lend money to Zambia
IMF should not give a cent to these delinquents, they shamelessly squandered the Euro bondage money and have nothing to show for it, not even an audit.
Any sane person would be embarrassed to make an announcement like this.
Being thieves, they are happy because the money will be shared among themselves through shady construction contracts.
True failures pf you are. Now Zambia will experience the lowest economic growth in past 20 years. Who puff knows is dancing at rallies. What would anyone expect with people like Zulu in control. Thieving in the night and day. Stop chasing after HH and fix the economy.
See Tan Yorko! The country is getting into trouble and you are busy praising your fellow ideeots.
Very wrong move and very sad indeed!!
Shallow & cheap minded economists & politician without an ounce of income generation capability!
Always thinking of the quickest & simplest but burdensome way of raising money to run an economy. Even simple minds like comical Muliokela & late Chakomboka given a chance to rule Zambia can easily manage if economic solutions only lie in burdening the nation in the future with loans which current ‘leader’ will not repay. Sata did that with borrowed money to wrongly earn praise for unprecedented infrastructural development at inflated cost. Now its Wrungu struggling to repay money borrowed & misused by Sata regime.
That’s why Chinese & Arabs are bevy in Zed & taken over every sector incl blockmaking & chickenselling 2 recoup their loans.
What next if IMF refused you loans like…
What next if IMF refused you loans like Eurobond is unwilling to lend u more?
clueless baboons
Social Effect of this borrowing
1. Boom in tailoring business- we have to adjust our trousers.
2. Boom in sex business- we shall see bana chite and chite being chitad
3. Boom in tutemba business for rwandees- pamela will be the only source for mealie meal
I agree, these are clueless Monkeys, with a servant to Master mentality
We must be very careful borrowing money from IMF. It does not sound good for me, it also may not be good for the Zambian. debts enslaves nations.
bafi color don’t care about the future, they cant even account for the 3 Euro Bonds they squandered. Everything is done with elections in mind.
IMF is not a colleague of development. SAP is what Mutati can manage. He can’t come up with a program to develop Zambia
It all sounds good on paper until the politicians mess it up with undisciplined spending. My honest opinion is -currently, we don’t have the caliber and sincerity in our political leadership to push this nation forward economically. Until we sort out fundamental economic issues of low productivity and low employment levels, loans are not a solution for Zambia. Loans will just shift our day of reckoning a bit further into the future but at a higher cost to the entire nation. With the type of leaders we currently have, this IMF package will simply mean more money available for looting for politicians and very little benefit to the ordinary Zambian.
Borrowing to abuse public fund to debt Zambians and their children!
Why does Mushota blog like a near blown mad-man?
Our small GDP is just US $20.4bn and our debt is already US $10bn meaning the $1.6bn loan will put Zambia into over 50% debt to GDP ratio .
This reckless PF gov’t is very irresponsible in managing the economy which is already sickly with a slow growth of just 3% .What happened to Rupia Banda’s very healthy economy?
$10bn is pretty high he says and $1.8bn of government arrears, were they not supposed to clear all that with the Eurobond? We shall ask for the maximum, if that $10bn could not develop Zambia, an additional $1.8bn will. Especially if the plan is more infrastructure spending. Fin Min ideally should first change the policy in relation to multinationals on repatriation of profits and tax revenue. That alone can help the coffers as opposed to raising the tax base. The subsidy cut will hurt Zambians, our inflation is still around 20% so we need to see how you plan to boost the economy. Borrowing continuously with no plan is futile, and understand now that the IMF, World Bank, AFDB are no-longer lending for the sake of it. Better yet we all them enough as is, and can we pay that back.
$1.6 Billion!!!!!!!!! Elo lwanya!
PF00Ls need to acknowledge that they’ve failed to run the country’s economy. Tighten your belts bane! This is what we warned u about during election campaigns.
Running a country is NOT easy, bane. Stick to what u r good at:-
– Katondo Street Forex dealing
– Running bottle stores in Chawama
– Reading ZNBC news
– NGOCC
– Tasintha H00ker retirement homes
ETC
There is a very grave concern with the current state of the economy, which not even a political appointee like Hon Mutati has not bothered to hide. We need a new economic manager, we are slowly getting to borrowing more money to pay back what we borrowed yesterday.
Sorry Mutati, Lungu and his rigging have only become more of an issue after his police harassment of HH.
He has SHOT PF in the Pfoot with his crass ignorance and st.upidity!
Unfortunately is is also destroying our economic future and Zambias economy. he has stolon our next generations future by stealing an election.
10 billion debt? slave path…………………… PF no good for zambia. The guys have no clue how to raise funds minus borrowing.
This Felix Mutati MMD PF Minister always talks as if he is in a new govt starting afresh…all he dreams of is IMF yet his collegues in PF are in denial.
Teat HH AND THE OPPOSITION WELL, AND YOU MAY GET THE FUNDING, AS THINGS STAND NOW… FORGATE
mainmasala
I personally hope they don’t get it,that is the only way for thickheads like Kamyongo to realise that their actions will have repercussions now and more importantly in future.Let the IMF send the loosers back with empty bowls,after all even if they are given the money they will definitely abuse it.
But how are we going to pay back and in how many years?
Hope it’s free money. IMF never learns. Or is it our country being mortgaged?
No Africans never learn…IMF are not foools…you can never go wrong with lending to a govt as the debt never goes anywhere just keeps accruing interest.
The debt never goes anywhere just keeps accruing interest. And Lungu just keeps going on another international holiday!
The legal team of Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has asked a court in the capital, Lusaka, to “discharge” treason charges against him, his United Party for National Development (UNDP) has tweeted.
The charge sheet failed to properly explain how Mr Hichilema had plotted to overthrow the government, and was probably drawn up by someone who had never drafted a treason charge before, the lawyers said.
This IMF news is another diversion from latest failure to prove their treason case. PF is a big waste of time for Zambia! Sad!
The charge was drafted by Kaizer and approved by His Excellency ECL under the influence of Jemason on the rocks.
When are we going to stop borrowing like what Gaddafi did to Libya?
First stop wasting resources fight each other. If you cant pay off your loan borrow more that PF monetary policy. When your president came to power he spent months travelling, up to now we haven’t seen any fruits from his travel. We now $1.8 billion in arrears and we are proud, the government is at work. Our GDP per capita PPP (Int’l $) $4000, and you think the country is doing very well. Current account balance (US$b) -0.9
“Zambia has been talking about getting IMF aid since 2014, but resisted after two presidential elections since then made the required reforms politically unattractive.”
“Last week, Information Minister Kampamba Mulenga said cabinet agreed that the government conclude negotiations with the IMF.”
From these two sentences, if you followed the defunct Post news last year July, this loan was readily granted to our govt by March 2016. The pf Leadership deliberately ignored it bcoz IMF demanded that it engages our Govt in a program unlike the previous loans were our govt was simply given conditions. Engaging Zambia into this program means, all govt transactions /procurement, IMF must be consented, to ensure prudent use of this monies. This leadership delayed bcoz they would have failed…
“Zambia has been talking about getting IMF aid since 2014, but resisted after two presidential elections since then made the required reforms politically unattractive.”
“Last week, Information Minister Kampamba Mulenga said cabinet agreed that the government conclude negotiations with the IMF.”
From these two sentences, if you followed the defunct Post news last year July, this loan was readily granted to our govt by March 2016. The pf Leadership deliberately ignored it bcoz IMF demanded that it engages our Govt in a program unlike the previous loans were our govt was simply given conditions. Engaging Zambia into this program means, all govt transactions /procurement, IMF must be consented to, to ensure prudent use of this monies. This leadership delayed bcoz they would have…
I am surprised that there are very few reactions from PF cadres on this topic. I expect them to come out full throttle and defend there economic performance like they do when they are talking about HH.
Cadres like to talk petty irrelevant issues and individuals…here are these guys wanting borrow more without plugging the existing holes. These leaders will never pay back themselves as they will be retired or dead like the Satas…its our children who will suffer due to this reckless.
This leadership delayed bcoz they would havehave failed to use govt coffers for their party campaign. Now that they have failed to retract the economy, they are left with no alternative but to take it.
Go go Felix, persuade Lungu to agree.
“Hopefully the program can be presented to the board sometime end of June, beginning of July.” June 2018????
“At the moment we know that we can get up to $1.6 billion — if you ask me, I’d go for the maximum,” he said in an interview.
Surely this chap Felix can not be the best candidate for this position…I fear for the futures of our children as these tins are merely borrowing to pay off debts they have accrued and they show no sign of cutting back.
The Black race is a slave – pure and simple – an economic slave. I am frightened and disgusted at the same time, at a people who produce nothing and consume everything that others produce. I believe IMF has produced that money which Zambia wants to consume. Zambia is a perpetual slave to IMF. Zambians like putting hands in their pockets instead of spreading them in work. This country is full of people with a propensity for consumption.
When we tell you lungu is clueless you now know why. If he is not borrowing he is harassing the opposition.
Anyways with people like Kaizer zulu, kapoyongo, Davis mwila and Frank bwalya around him what go you expect ?
When is LT going to be properly and constructively utilized? Every article has politics inherent. Ladies and Gents let us use this media to discuss ideas that can benefit not only Zambia but the globe as a whole. We need to use our brains as Zambians. I admire the Jews immensely. They have used their brains to conquer the world in every facet of life. Through their brain power, they control how the world thinks. They are the experts in everything in this world. In fact, every time I tune to television, invariably it is a Jewish individual who is called as expert to explain what had happened. Their brain power has made them financial barons of the world, the real estate moguls of the world, the titans of industry in every category. For example, George Soros, the financial wizard, made over…
Flash back ,Lungu in SA
President Lungu’s economic diplomacy has continued yielding results. He is currently in Saudi Arabia where he is signing big deals that include:
1. Oil deals which will see the cost of fuel go down to as low as K5. 5. per litre. Negotiations have been going on and finally the deal will be signed.
2. Funding of 10 more irrigation dams. Zambia is fast becoming the food busket for central and southern africa. President Lungu wants to expand investment in irrigation.
3. Funding of phase two 600MW solar plant. The 600 MW phase one is being funded by World bank through IDC. Hon Dora…
4. The president has pledged to create 500 000 jobs by end of 2016.
He has also opened
……..He has also opened mulugushi textiles with the immediate employment of 300 workers this…
……..He has also opened mulugushi textiles with the immediate employment of 300 workers this rasing to 20 000 beneficiaries this growing season due out grower cotton scheme
Hehehe you see…..lungu is too busy chasing HH to cover his lamentable failures….
Borrow..Borrow..Borrow what a country?????
Mutati is hallucinating. With the current level of Human Rights violations, lack of Respect for Rule of Law,Good Governance and Constitutionalism in Zambia Mutati should kiss goodbye to IMF money. Lungu has been lambasting the USA,EU and Western Govts over the HH Treason Case. Under the Illegitimate Lungu govt Mutati should know that Economic and Travel Sanctions are coming. So No Petition Hearing, No Legitimacy and No Foreign loans and grants to Zambia. Period.
‘If you ask me…..’ borrow the maximum! He says. Does the country have a choice other than to rely on you to do the right thing. If you ask ME and if I had a choice I would prefer we managed our finances prudently and NOT have to borrow at all. I guess thats wishful thinking… so please knock yourselves out and borrow away.
I fear for this money. Will it really be used for its intended purpose?
Of course it will go for its intended purpose — paying the INTEREST on the BORROWED MONEY that Lungu and his PF have already STOLEN!
This man must go!
Why do desperate FP-Fools think they can borrow more money,when they do not have any plans to repay the existing loans? The Fools are only bent on getting the money without regards to any risk. For example the Fed has began the process of normalization and the federal funds rate is focused to be between 2 to 3 % by the first quarter of 2018. Would these fools be able to pay let alone interest repayments?
@ Mushota
I do read some of your postings but you are a disgrace, your being in the UK is a waste of time and space. Also your assertions about your education is delusional. Your grammar is as terrible as Lusaka Times. Sadly you cannot even construct a simple sentence let alone analyse issues.
I suspect the tourist in state house is getting the itinerary for the world tour ready
What happened to the Euro bond money? Are we this bad? Now we are borrowing again just so as to make available funds for politicians to steal.
How do you fail as a country to raise $1 billion from your own resources? Zambia loses over a billion a year in lost revenue from mining concessions alone, never mind taxing the informal sector. What’s wrong with our so called leaders? It was Micheal Sata who unleashed the spending spree with his 90 days rhetoric. PF government inherited a surplus and went on the spending binge to enrich themselves their extended families. Now you wonder why so may HH vuvuzelas are crying foul at all cost, it’s because they smell the same piece of action. That Chikwanda should be brought before a parliamentary select committee to explain why he was in such a hurry to build up Zambia’s debt in such a short space of time. Clocking up $10 billion in 5 years is no laughing matter. UNIP only managed $7…
When will we realize that Aid creates dependency which fuels poverty… For how long will we keep making rich countries richer through unfair trade rules and tax evasion laws, we export an excess of $50billion back to the wealthy countries with the $1.6billion we are fooled onto borrowing!? Please lets end this and provide a better future for our kids, its not rocket science you know…
I wonder why Felix Mutati lied to the people of Zambia in the 2017 National Budget that we want a home grown economy hence we are increasing the PAYE and other related taxes on the the Zambian people. But today, he is the one saying we are going to Borrow the Maximum from the IMF. Surely, for what purpose are they borrowing this huge amount of money which will just increase the Debt for our beloved Nation, when the government is telling us that we have created self funded projects in the country. For example, The National Road Fund Agency ( NRFA) to raise money for road maintenance and construction. Where does the government take these Billions of Kwacha from Road toll Gates which are all over the country ans some are even being belt in strategic points within the same regions.