THE World Bank has given Zambia US$600 million for implementing various development programmes in the country over a period of three years.
World Bank Africa region vice-president Mkhtar Diop disclosed this at State House yesterday when he met President Lungu. The funds have been available under the bank’s International Development Association.
Special assistant to the President for press and public relations Amos Chanda told journalists after the closed door meeting that the US$600 million represents a 74 percent increase from what the bank previously gave Zambia.
“Some key components of this facility include the US$200 million already given to Government to connect rural areas by working on feeder roads,” he said.
Mr Chanda said of the US$600 million, US$150 million is for direct support to this year’s national budget.
The World Bank has also pledged full support to the economic stabilisation programme Government is undertaking.
Mr Chanda said the global financial institution is confident of the measures Government is taking to stabilise the economy, including the strides being made in the energy and agricultural sectors.
He said the financial institution has also pledged to give technical support to Zambia to ensure that the maize from this year’s bumper harvest does not go to waste.
And Mr Chanda said President Lungu thanked the bank for supporting Zambia and asked it to fully support the construction of the Batoka Gorge power station.
“The President also asked that support towards social protection be increased,” he said.
President Lungu further asked the World Bank to reconsider the loan it was advancing to Zambia for the refugee support programme.
Mr Chanda said the President would rather have grants or direct support to such programmes than loans.
Earlier, the bank’s vice-president said the institution will increase resource allocation to Zambia by 75 percent.
Mr Diop said this increase is an indication that the bank is fully behind Zambia in its implementation of the economic recovery programme.
He was speaking when he paid a courtesy call on Minister of Finance Felix Mutati.
And Mr Diop urged Zambia to quit programmes that are not working and concentrate on those yielding positive results for the country, especially in the agriculture and energy sectors.
Mr Diop said it is also important for Zambia to include academic institutions in the implementation of programmes as a way of encouraging home-grown solutions.
And Mr Mutati said Mr Diop’s remarks will remind Zambians that the partnership the country has with the World Bank is firm and well-founded.
“President Lungu will meet you later today [yesterday] just to underpin the co-operation we have had in the past,” he said.
The world bank, EU, IMF know that they can trust pres Lungu
Expect an influx of money as attested here.
We are seeing unprecedented growth in zambia never seen before and with the right man now at the helm/ the sky is the limit.
Thanks
BB2014,2016
According to PF, Zambia is sovereign country but apparently we can get money from outside but they can not say anything about the dictatorship happening in Zambia.
PF is so dishonest like that arresting/witness of HH. We asked you, are 600 Millon’s of dollars a GRANT or LOAN?
Be honest, don’t be RDA.
Whats does this tell UPND donkeys? Come 2
Don’t steal that money. Always asking for arms but failing to put the money to good use. It’s not the amount that is important but the use of this money on projects that alleviate poverty. We have head this song so many times, the question is why are we sliding into more poverty even when we have received large chunk of the World Bank money? We need to have mechanisms in place that should audit the use and bring to book those that lay their filthy hands on donations. Cadres no share from this money this time around.
Your excellency, Your personal image will be soiled and your soul cursed if you allow enemies of the poor abuse or put this money to personal aggrandizements. Let no long fingered men and women not even be mentioned in your government,
Good advice. Thanks.
More loans on top of loans…deeper and deeper into debt!!
Money rarely really trickles down whatever the big men in suits will have you believe. But money can always be relied upon to work it’s way up. So, “small is beautiful” as E.F.Schumacher famously observed, and “If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire” as George Monbiot famously said. Those men were not *****s. So lend the six hundred million in millions of small loans for the small entrepreneurs: the smallholder struggling to feed his family, and the stallholder selling essential things in her village. These people might seem insignificant to the men in suits, but they are not. They are the base of the pyramid where it is strongist and the engines of a stronger Zambia more developed on its own terms.