Minister of Finance Felix Mutati says government is focusing on reducing the accumulation of debt while clearing outstanding debts to stabilize the country.
Mr. Mutati says the government decided to remove subsidies in the agriculture sector and on electricity to stabilize the economy.
He says results have since started flowing as evidenced by the cost of money going down.
The Finance Minister says last year close to six hundred million dollars was spent on buying power that was used for home consumption while the economy remained stagnant.
And Mr. Mutati has challenged the insurance sector to give confidence to the public by paying claims on time.
He says the government wants to simplify regulation, come up with a bill and create policies that will enable the insurance sector to grow and in turn improve the economy.
The Minister was speaking at the Insurers Association of Zambia- IAZ- conference in Livingstone in this morning.
And Insurers Association of Zambia President Paul Nkhoma said it is disheartening that only 2.8 percent of Zambian Adults have insurance and that the association is working towards improving the situation.
Meanwhile, Pensions and Insurance Authority Registrar Martin Libinga has called for the speedy enactment of the insurance bill to support the growth of the industry.
Brilliant
Like all of you who believe in this Govt you will agree with me that these are tenets of a functioning Government.
I urge all of you as my fiancé reminds me when in argument. Divided we fall and if we start together we will overcome any obstacles.
It’s important you support this Governemnt because – it is the right thing to do.
I hold a PhD
Thanks
BB2014,2016
The how comoonent please.. We are alive to the fact that economic leverege has been lost. Debt Risk Ratio not good right now. Lets come up with actionable plan of building internal capacity with a timeline.
Why not focus on paying newly employed nurses who have not received any salaries in last six months?
– they can’t pay rent, so they sleep on patient beds in hospital
– nurses surving on patient meals.
Mutati grow up man.
Soto Voce Mutati. You can’t trust this guy!
All these mutatis are a bunch of miseducated nincompoops. using funny white people jargon you call economics that never work for us.MOst if not all of us are miseducated.we have no clue whats really going on.Answer these questions for me.When the whites first came to africa,did they find
1.Africans starving?
2.Africans with no governance system,hence in a state of upheaval?
3.Africans enslaving other africans?
if the answer is no,which we can prove from the logs of the white explorers.why have we changed a winning system to democracies, christianity, to systems where we constantly in debt and starving.why cant we study and build from where our ancestors left in terms of spirituality,society,philosophy,education and governance etc.
Ati Reducing debt when Mutati & PF00lish Govt is begging for another $8 Billion from China & &1.6 Billion from Shylock IMF.
Zambia has no capacity to repay these loans. We’ve been down this road before & we know Zambians will end up in tears of pain.
How much is Zambias debt?
“Felix Mutati says government is focusing on reducing the accumulation of debt while clearing outstanding debts to stabilize the country…. says the government decided to… stabilize the economy” ????????
Who accumulated the debt in the first place????? When PF came in, Zambia had THREE BILLION DOLLARS IN THE BANK!!!
And tell us WHO DE–STABILISED the economy????? When PF came in mealie meal was K35 a BAG!!!!
Mutati, just be HONEST !!!! Admit that Lumg and his PF are totally CLUELESS !! And have absolutely NO IDEA and NO VISION on how to fix the economy.
Now with the RECKLESS BORROWING, CORRUPTION and INCOMPETENCE Zambians are owing TEN BILLION DOLLARS !!! And a f**ked up economy because of domestic borrowing BY YOU!
@Patrick $10bn currently.
Borrowing money in order to reduce debt. Pf/mmd way of doing business. Pathetic cretins.
Hi mushota my puppy.! Where is that pf dog who calls himself Mr kudos?
Squeezing the common man whilst the minister lives in opulence!
Mutati is talking nosense. How is he stabilising the debt when he is writing off the $1.4 billion owed by FQM? U write off $1.6 billion FQM Debt and borrow $1.6 billion from IMF. Why not recover the FQM Debt and stop borrowing from IMF. Without IMF Loan to refinance the Eurobonds Zambia will default on its external next year. With the incarceration of HH on Trumped Up Treason Charges and continued persecution No IMF Loan , Donor Aid and Foreign Investors from the West. With this scenario the Zambian Economy is bound to collapse.
@Chuma you are so right. If FQM were innocent in the matter why not settle it through Court? Why run to State House, Attorney General and Minister of Finance? CORRUPTION! CORRUPTION! CORRUPTION! CORRUPTION!
Mutati is a noise maker. He we believe him. We know he is a crook. He better shut the he’ll up.
This is the problem of this country — over prescription of excuses. The insurance industry in Zambia is not growing because of lack of a proper legislative environment but because of the industry’s own inability to innovate and grow the sector. The insurance industry in Zambia is probably one of the most moribund and less innovative sector in this country. The one only time you probably interact with your insurance company is when paying premiums and when you a goose chase of claims.
Yep dunnuna reverse…..rushing to catch the first train of eurobonds repayments……..that is over ambitious mutati, would you not say ?
Any benefits the roads and infrastructure is bringing to the economy is being squeezed out of Zambians until they can not squeeze any more by escalating prices.
When we were telling them to ease up on the uneconomic roads the kaponyas were busy sontaring………
And the government has paid its retirees in a timely manner??
Mushota of the phd as this is such a good idea explain, using your analytical skills obtained whilst researching you doctorate, indetail the mechanism by which the insurance industry will save zambias economy.
Oh, where do the insured get the money to pay their premium. 78% below poverty so 22% will support the rest of the community if they all takevout insurance. And this man is a finance minister and mushota is a phd.
can anybody tell me why a toll gate cost US$2 million to build. we had a government spokesman quoting , on the weekend, that another 20 toll gates will be built costing 67million kwacha,
1] where does the money come from to build these
2] if borrowed how long to pay this back from the tolls
3] is each toll gate responsible to pay back it cost of building from its collection, are they cost effective
4] how is the collected fees accounted for.
5] does toll go to consolidated revenue or for road infrastructure
Insurance Bill for what? That’s nonsense please! We are paying insurance which is never paid when we claim for it now these insurance companies what us to be paying insurance for everything? My MP should raise an order on this issue in Parliament and not agree to the passing of this unfair Bill!
Can the Minister of Finance clarify whether it is true that Government has signed a contract with AVIC to do roads on the Copperbelt at US$1.5m per km instead of US$650 000? If this is true, how can you reduce debt with such fiscal indiscipline?
@K Bwalya, the difference of US$850 000 per km is what is used to finance corruption! That’s how Ministers and Civil Servants steal from the Zambians.
I thought 2 + 2 = 4. Now Mutati is saying 2 + 2 = 1.