Thursday, March 28, 2024

World Bank advises Zambia on further borrowing

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(From left to right) Dr. William Janssen Lead Agriculture Economist World Bank (r), Dr. Gregory Smith Senior Economist World Bank (l) and Ina Ruthenberg is the world Bank Country Manager- Zambia (c) during World Bank Zambia appearing before Parliamentary Accounts Committee at Parliament
FILE: (From left to right) Dr. William Janssen Lead Agriculture Economist World Bank (r), Dr. Gregory Smith Senior Economist World Bank (l) and Ina Ruthenberg is the world Bank Country Manager- Zambia (c) during World Bank Zambia appearing before Parliamentary Accounts Committee at Parliament

A senior economist at the World Bank says Zambia still has an opportunity for borrowing but must be careful of certain factors.

Gregory Smith has advised the country to go for cheaper loans of longer duration with a lower rate as compared to the opposite.

Dr Smith feels concessional lending should be Zambia’s priority to ensure inclusive development.

And the World Bank says it will continue to support Zambia’s efforts to improve domestic revenue.

Dr Smith has cited among other projects, government’s project to register residential properties, the implementation of electronic fiscal devices to monitor trade transactions as well as monitoring of bank accounts as some of the projects to be supported.

He said growing the tax base is a huge challenge for many countries in the world, hence the World Bank’s stance to assist in this area.

Dr Smith made the observations when he, along with other World Bank officials appeared before the Budget Committee at Parliament in Lusaka.

The committee was chaired by Kabompo West Member of Parliament Ambrose Lufuma.

Meanwhile,

34 COMMENTS

  1. This is like Rhumba music to pf cadres, watch how they will brag for been recognised as a top borrower. One of the projects world Bank is supporting is monitoring bank accounts, is this why nkani ya Tpin registration yabwela hot?

    • One brand new Luxury SUV costs about USD 40,000. govt through its ministries and associated institutions such as Ratsa, ERB, RDA, FRA, ZRA etc etc buys roughly in the range of 500 brand new Toyota Hiluxs, VXs, Ford Rangers etc etc per year.

      What value do these cars bring to the economy? Lusaka is full of these useless machines that give the impression we are developed country.

      You as the useless World Bank Economist can you tell me? You are the ones that give the State money to buy these useless assets or liabilities that just end up as part of gratuity and imprest for top fat belly govt officers!

    • Ctn .. I’ve come to conclude that WB and IMF deliberatly give loans and grants labeled as “implementation support” for the purchase of these SUVs inorder to give business to Car Manufacturers such as Ford, Toyota etc etc. It is all just a conspiracy and these African govt institutions just end up mounting this debt. African nations were crying about the non participation of the US in the Paris Climate agreement yet African govts are the biggest culprits when it comes to the use of these fuel gazzling and polluting vehicles. World Bank are proper agents of evil!

    • Recognition as a top borrower sounds more like a curse to me than a blessing. Truly speaking, there is a lot of money in Zambia that goes to waste. Like 2020vision observed, why are we still buying all these expensive show-off cars/SUV’s for Government officials instead of saving or channeling that money to farmers or manufacturing investments?

      We Zambians like showing off for nothing. Yes, we used to be the fourth largest economy in Africa at some point, but we are no longer that. Lets learn to save up for the future generations.

      I still dont want the IMF deal to succeed. Lets just be patient and invest the “little” wasted cash we have into farming, tourism, manufacturing and education. 5 years down the line we wont need IMF loans. Just remember this, “The rich ruleth over the…

    • contd..
      Just remember this, “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” Proverbs 22:7(KJV).

    • @2020 vision there is no luxury SUV that will cost USD 40,000 in Zambia. Luxury SUVs as u put it cost northwards of USD60,000 upwards that price you have is probably from abroad. This price is even minus tax. Here I am referring to vehicles such as the Landcruiser VX, Prado, Jeep Cherokee CRD, VW Tourage etc vehicles GRZ buys.

    • Special Paper 1 question

      MMD is to privatization + FTJ’s theft as PF is to………….?

      A. Debt + Theft + Mukula
      B. 500,000 new jobs
      C. Strong economy
      D. More money in your pocket

  2. PF can’t plan for cholera how much better could they be on spending & borrowing? No surprise our economy has only grown a lackluster 3.5% during PF tenure.

  3. Dr Smith’s advice is irresponsible. How can Zambia borrow some more when the Borrowing Capacity is not known?We must first establish Zambia’s Debt Stock b4 we borrow any new loans. The IMF stance on the Debt Issue is commendable. No new loans should be contracted until the Debt Sustainability Assessment is completed. With high levels of Corruption in the Lungu PF govt any new loan should be interrogated otherwise the Corrupt Lungu Govt will continue stealing the Loan proceeds. A forensic audit should be undertaken on the use of Eurobonds contracted some years ago.

  4. Are the Politicians the only one stealing?Be honest with yourself.Civil servants have been stealing from Government for many good years.

    • Ici calo ni sansanabo, bale lopola fye ifili fyonse, any cashing opportunity that avails itself is festive day. These IMF guys are just as human as we are, even worse if the condition is conducive and appetizing as is the fertile corruption ground in Zambia. All hell has broken loose in our governance institutions.

  5. @Musa
    It is not only corruption which is endemic among civil servants@GEORGE but funds are also misappropriated. borrowed funds should be utilized as indicated @bemba man. however, our government allocate such funds to consumption such as ministries’ operations, paying civil servants salaries etc.. Our fiscal policy is lip-talk, I tell you these guys are borrowing with the view that in future there will be debt cancellation. They are used with the cancellation of debt, and if we call that African dignity, the elite call that shh!hole! And these civil servants please stop corruption! All they know is to raise imprests for travels, and retirement of imprest where an activity was not conducted.

    • True, most civil servants at ministry HQs are complaining that they have not been able to make money because of cholera – they cannot travel. The new thing is to pretend to be working outside Lusaka by having meetings at Mika Convention Centre (Chongwe District) or Chilanga and draw full subsistence allowance but still spend nights at home in Lusaka town.

  6. This is laughable: The problem is not borrowing, the problem is how borrowed money is used! A project which should cost $1m ends up costing $5m because corrupt Ministers and corrupt government officials want kick backs! Why even borrow if the problem of corruption is not fixed? The World Bank should stop lecturing to us on basics like these!

  7. The richest continent in the world is also the poorest lol man what’s wrong with Africans, how long will we let foreigners rob us of natural resources worth billions and get hardly anything back but loans haha Look at how the Arabs protect their natural resources and now have a voice the west will listen on the world stage and Africans are constantly ridiculed and looked at us needy, dirty and unorganised. We need to wake up and claim what God blessed us with

    • Africa will generally remain poor because those in power think they are super humans and look down on the governed. This creates selfishness which in turn gives birth to corruption. African leaders are full of impunity. This makes them think they are semi gods and so they run govts unto themselves and not to the citizens.

  8. look at the so called support from world bank, unrelated country’s needs. we need support in agriculture, education. we can do without that support

  9. 1. A senior economist at the World Bank says Zambia still has an opportunity for borrowing but must be careful of certain factors. Gregory Smith has advised the country to go for cheaper loans of longer duration with a lower rate as compared to the opposite.
    2. Dr. Smith feels concessional lending should be Zambia’s priority to ensure inclusive development.
    3. And the World Bank says it will continue to support Zambia’s efforts to improve domestic revenue.
    VERY GOOD AND TIMELY ADVICE, DR. SMITH. THIS LOOKS LIKE ADVICE FOR A GROWING ECONOMY NOT AN ECONOMY IN A CRISIS AS OUR NEGATIVE FRIENDS IN THE OPPOSITION WOULD WANT US TO THINK!!!

  10. @6 GEORGE, yes, and among the civil servants are hordes of upnd supporters stealing or corrupting for their own pockets and to support their party by painting the government black with corruption allegations. If you have dealt with them you will not only the tribalism but they stench with corruption too. They will attend to you based on your name. Sometimes they will even “lose” your file if your name is wrong, ask any victim they will tell you. Its the same upnd cadres in the civil service who evaluate tenders and select exhorbitant prices, and then turn around to put the blame on others.

  11. It shouldn’t comfort you when a Shylock tells you that you’re eligible for further nkongole, examine yourself to gauge whether you can afford an increased burden of debt. When will Boma address the plight of retirees? Some former council workers haven’t been paid their pensions for 10yrs. Sata campaigned that he was going to pay retirees even if it meant bankrupting the govt. This is a grave injustice that deserves national prayers, not cholera!

  12. Can I suggest we develop a Ministry of Common Sense. Only our brightest geniuses should be appointed in this ministry and lets see what happens…

  13. I don’t need to be an economist to advise my government to use borrowing as a last resort. We can be less reliant on borrowing if we start by cutting down on wasteful expenditure, improving on tax collection, investing in quick – win income generating ventures in short to medium terms and supporting innovation culture for our people. We can then use the monies collected over those timeframes to start investing in long term income growth activities and only borrow the shortfall to supplement the budget.

    It’s degrading to keep on begging to borrowing from IMF as if the money will be given for free. we have so many resources and educated citizens to help build a beautiful country.

    Chipimo 2021.

  14. Ma ma ma ma……..mr world bank , you are condemning Zambians to the York of debt for ever by telling these rats they still can borrow…..big big mistake…..borrowing and corruption is all they are good at and is all they know…

  15. The World Bank advises Zambia among other things to be careful with include registration of residential properties. Wooohaw! residential properties in Zambia. ‘Really’ Zambia hasn’t any planning policy for residential properties to be registered as planned and serviced by water and sewerage facility provision.
    Currently if Zambia is unable to fulfil this simple condition means world financial institutions can not lend money to Zambia.

  16. WE ARE IN DEEPER WATERS AS COUNTRY AND AFRICA IN GENERAL (APART FROM BOSTWANA THAT REFUSED IMPLEMENTED THE SAP NONSENSE} BECAUSE OF OUR ASSOCIATION WITH IMF AND WORLD BANK. THESE TWO BRENTWOOD INSTITUTIONS, WITH THEIR NEO-LIBERAL ECONOMICS POLICIES , ARE SMART CRIMINALS.

  17. There is an ACT CALLED WORLD BANK ACCOUNTANTABILITY ACT OF 2017 that guides the ethics and professional conduct of world bank and its employees

    When I was made to read it and understand recently , I appreciated the Ethics and regulatory requirements such institutions are subjected to and its peer review in compliancy departments makes it difficult for ethical violations to go unnoticed

    World bank is a Sound Institution like IMF read the Act

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