Minister of Finance, Felix Mutati has assured the nation that Government would not default on its debt repayments as it had the capacity to pay back the contracted loans.
Mr Mutati said government is optimistic that it will not default on its loan repayments following measures which have been put in place to reduce the pace of debt accumulation as well as improving its management.
As of December 31 2017, Government’s external debt stood at US$7.9 billion from US$ 6.9 billion recorded by the end of 2016.
Mr. Mutati said Government would not be the first generation to default on its debt bearing in mind the risks that came with the development.
“Since independence, this country has never defaulted and it is not within our DNA to be the generation that creates opportunity for default, we will make sure that our management capability of debt using appropriate tools ensures that there is no default , including looking again at our infrastructure portfolio. We do not want to default.
“Debt is an important source of development, expenditure and poverty reduction. All countries borrow for investment and development. What is important is how and what you borrow and how you employ what you have borrowed bearing in mind the ability to be able to pay,” he said.
He was speaking in Lusaka on Friday evening at a public forum which was discussing the economic performance of the 2017 and the 2018 outlook.
Mr. Mutati also said Government achieved all its targets in 2017 and that they had since started yielding results as could be seen from the economy which had begun to strengthen while becoming more grounded to deal with the twist and turns that lie ahead.
He, however, said climate change and oil prices, among others, remained risks for the local economy.
He has since encouraged citizens to focus more of their energy in contributing to economic development and not spending much time on social media such as twitter saying “There is no time to do that because there are tasks to be done, you cannot manage an economy through twitter.”
And acting secretary to the Treasury, Mukuli Chikuba, said Government had US$1.05 billion outstanding of stock of guarantees.
“If we say our external debt is US$7.9 billion, all we are saying is that is the debt that Zambia has drown and when we net out any repayments that have been done in the year and disbursements that have come in, the net position is US$7.9 billion. We have as at end of 2017 US$5.92 billion that has not been drawn and it will be drown over a period of five years, we US$1.05 billion outstanding of stock of guarantees,” he said.
Yes mutati Zambia shall not default , just like you promised us the imminent 1.3 billion deal with the IMF ……
IMF, World Bank, all learned economists think Zambia will default, but this night school accountant called Mutati thinks the country will not default
Only a foool can believe the sly Mutati who can not even come clean on the actual debt figure we owe. IMF had a look and noticed nothing was balancing up and it was all lies coming out of this man’s mouth.
I & many Zambians are ready to stand up for Zambia & make it hub of Africa & world. God has given us everything we need. God is with us (Emmanuel = Christian Nation) & He is leading our way to greatness. The road is not easy as some want to promise but it will be worth it as we are already on our way. We’ve to learn to believe & live our faith in God, work hard, be creative & put integrity @ centre of everything we do. Every Zambian must do this (not just gov’t) & we will be a prosperous nation. God Bless Zambia
Yes, Let’s all close our eyes and pray to White Jesus and everything will come true.
Amen!!
While you close your eyes in prayer the rats are stealing the resources to enrich themselves instead of benefitting the poor masses. At this stage in our developments, prayer alone is not enough. Only prayer buttressed with action will bring about the change you aspire for. A combination of prayer and deeds will translate into positive change!
If you refinance your debt then you havent defaulted, have we paid Lapgreen yet, have we paid china exim the $1.2million first interest paymentfor digital work
Government parastals haven’t paid zra, napsa etc. So how does he justify not defaulting on loans. Proof is in the pudding
Mutati is so sleek, You have to count your fingers after a hand shake with him
This one will dribble the ball into his own goal! anyone believe him will believe anything! To this day he has never declared to the nation the true figure – sum total of the country’s external debt which has been the sticking point in negotiations with the World Bank over the last two years. And the PF government continues to contract more Chinese debt. Its likely, even he cant keep tabs with what the country owes. We are back in the HIPC days.