Chief Government Spokesperson, Dora Siliya has refuted social media reports circulating that the International Monetary Fund -IMF- has withdrawn from Zambia.
Ms Siliya says contrary to the reports, the IMF has not withdrawn, and its team is still in the country for various programmes.
She however explained that the IMF has just withdrawn the Resident Representative in Zambia, Alfredo Baldini, adding that the IMF will soon send a replacement.
Ms Siliya, who is also Information Minister, has added that Finance Minister, Margaret Mwanakatwe will issue a detailed statement on the matter this week-end.
And the Ministry of Finance has issued the Statement below
IMF RESIDENT OFFICE IN ZAMBIA REMAINS OPEN
www.mof.gov.zm
A statement was this morning issued to Bloomberg News by the OUTGOING IMF RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE IN ZAMBIA, Dr. ALFREDO BALDINI. Following the same, the Ministry of Finance has received numerous calls from members of the general public and the business community seeking clarification on the status of the country’s relationship with the IMF.
First and foremost, our relationship with the FUND IS HEALTHY AND INTACT and the IMF Resident Office in Zambia will remain operational beyond the tour of duty of Dr. Baldini, who has been recalled by the IMF in Washington for redeployment. His departure at the end of the month [August 2018], DOES NOT entail the closure of the Resident Office. To clarify this, the Fund has communicated to the Ministry that a new IMF Resident Representative will be sent to Zambia for duty.
As Government, we feel duty bound to restate that our country is a shareholder and, therefore, a member of the IMF. To this extent, an IMF Staff Mission will be coming in the third quarter for ARTICLE 4 Consultations.
Besides this, the Government of Zambia is taking measures to strengthen the implementation of the Medium Term Debt Management Strategy. The prior actions required to facilitate the recommencement of discussions for an IMF Supported Programme are duly being attended as we simultaneously continue with our country initiated austerity, stabilisation, and growth measures.
We take this opportunity to state that we are receiving a lot of support and encouragement from Cooperating Partners, many of whom have pledged support for both the Economic Stabilisation and Growth Programme and the Seventh National Development Plan. We are grateful to them as we are to the people of Zambia who have taken the reforms in their stride.
In conclusion, we thank Dr. Baldini for his service in Zambia, especially for supporting and facilitating training programme for economists in the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Zambia. We wish him the best in his future endeavours.
Issued by
//Original Signed//
Chileshe Kandeta
For Ministry of Finance
Friday, 24th August, 2018
Dora is right.
Dora is not a spokesperson for IMF. We await a statement from IMF.
I am in zambia with Nick and everyone is looking at us at manda hill ?
Why ?
Can’t a well doing oh Zambian holder black
Woman hold hands with a whiteman?
Pathetic country I’m in.
I don’t like it here anyway.
Can’t wait to bloody leave.
Thanks
BB2014,2016
IMF has not left Zambia.
They have left this PF government.
There is a big difference.
Real investors from respected countries will flock back once there is a change of government.
….careful Mushota. Those girls at Manda Hill are not surprised you holding hands with a whiteman, they will grab him from you!!!….kwekwekwekwe….
Dora has nothing to do, just same as his other 35 ministers, because PF has nothing to do.
By the way Mushota holding hands I’d a sign of insecurity. Just walk with Nick 5 metres ahead of you to prove he really loves you. If he walks out on you to become someone else’s blesser then he was never meant to be yours. You can come back to Glasgow an find another one.
Iwe Chi colour Dora is never right.
When IMF is your last hope, just know that you r finished.
Its like the local shylock/kaloba-lender strikes u from his books even before you borrow.
Kilometers Sampa & Alex Chikwanda need to provide solutions on how to repay Eurobond. They celebrated with headphones on their ears when the succeded with auctioning our financial sovereignity
Right as in ‘Right’
Right as in ,wrong? Don’t play with Trump you mappets, otherwise you will make a lot of people to suffer. Just apologize and you wont lose anything like Amos Chanda has done.
“mappets” or “muppets”?
Mushota , welcome home. Never mind , local women are not really interested in his joystick .when they look at you, perhaps they feel for your sexual starvation.
Never mind!
There you go…Kikiki…
Lady, stop the ru.bbi.sh, as usual, are you telling us no one looks at you in Ireland when your Nick holds your hand? We have no proof that you are actually there, why don’t meet the Skull or NEEEZ.
Withdrawing a resident respresentive and programmes still progressing is two very different issues…
But why has he been withdrawn when he was supposed to be here till June/July 2019? I thought when iMF recalls a staff member, a replacement is announced immediately and there is a reason for that! This is rather unusual. The statement from MoF seems to attack Baldini (look at way its crafted) and also points a finger at him for failure to secure an IMf program. Didn’t govt do the same for Mutati, that he failed to secure a programme? There is something suspicious about this statement; government not telling us the truth.
Do you REALLY expect TRUTH from this bunch which come to power on the promises of “90 days”?
The PF rats are scared – IMF withdrawal is a serious economic omen for our country! These PF mother fckers have literally messed up the economy and quite rightly so, the IMF cant work with such a govt of jokers!! Dorah Siliya and Margaret Mwanachitwe are so scared of the consequences and couldn’t even come up with a convincing statement damage limitation by buying a few more hours for a meaningless comprehensive statement from Mwanachitwe tomorrow.
What can you expect from thieves over stolen Euro bonds while at the same time introducing stupid taxes which even bring 10% of what the mad dogs stole from our government.
But its irrefutable Dorah that Zambians have withdrawn their faith in your reckless economic policies and very poor debt management approach though.
Even the IMF computer in DC crashes every time when they input numbers from Lungu’s empty tins as they are “make-believe” figures ….really laughable…why should IMF waste time paying someone in Lusaka when the tins don’t listen they just want to cook books, very soon Lazy Lungu will start printing notes!!
IMF is frustrated with the PF government who talk of austerity measures and yet have continued on the trajectory of spending lavishly and embarking on new projects. The procuring of the latest lavish vehicles was the last straw. I am 100% with IMF. By the 2021, the majority of Zambian will be experts of poverty and will have a better definition the term poverty. Buckle up and enjoy the rough ride.
….kikikikiko……kikikikiko………this Lazy Jay j, very pathetic fella. Add to that the triba.lism!! And the directionless….h.h.
Hold-on smart anus, who is in charge, HH or ECL?
You are REAL PATHETIC crapper. By the way, has your anointed (LoL) Endemically Corrupt Leader decided direction which may (probably not) lead to IMF bail-out?
OMG! she looks so old, in fact older!
Lol. Very true. But the face is still better- but her pus-sey is even worse as the rubbers are gone and the thing it just stinks like super dry smoked fish! You can run away faster than Mark Mubalama did even if she now gives it freely!
Imf mission in the country have failed to negotiate a selfish package meant to impoverish zambians because they have with touch zambians technocrats. This one has been withdrawn due to incompetence. Zambia as a shareholder in this organization have a bigger voice to dectect what suits them. If you dont agree go suck your ……O oops.
May, may, may!!!
“Zambian voice”???
When did bankrupt corrupt beggars acquire such strength?
This time around, they will send you the most incompetent, a desk officer my friend. IMF? You play with them? How many times will Zambia seek IMF to recall staff? Four mission chiefs and two or three resident representatives in four years?!
@OVAL big empty HEAD:
Remember it is not the IMF but Zambia that needs money! They were not going to lend money to Zambia that was going to be stolen by Lungu and his PF thieves. They know that Lungu has stolen so much that he cannot even give them a correct debt figure he has run the country into!
The fact remains that IMF has gone leaving Lungu with so much debt and his docile useless people to do whatever they want! It doesn’t affect the IMF in any way but will soon affect Zambians when all those ARVs stop flowing in the country.
The signs have been on the wall for some time…Fitch downgrades ,IMF warnings and seeking bailout from Turkey.
It will be worse from September when the Kwacha will not be backed by any foreign reserves then and will be a free fall which will be worse than than Turkish Rupee!
Mushota people are looking at you because they are surprised seeing you holding hands with a man as old as your grandfather. His d1ck can’t even erect and you are with him cz you want to grab his assets when he kicks the bucket. You Glasgow toilet cleaner with a PHD in holding feaces
Why should IMF be in Zambia when Chagwa said we don’t need their help and they can go to hell? With our revised debt at $15billion and still counting, which is almost 60% of our GDP plus our junk status credit rating, there is no need of IMF keeping their representative here! It’s a cost to the organization to keep a representative here and when fundamentals for a bail out are bleak, forget it! I wish we could be cost sensitive also by doing away with certain ministries like Religeous guidance, Gender, Sports, Traditional leaders and culture and perhaps combine them under one, reduce the cost of running government! If Dira wants IMF to keep their representative, this is what they should tell Chagwa to start doing! Abolish also the DC post!
This is like being left by a man and you insist you are still together. Zambia wants to be in a relationship with IMF while IMF has moved on. Zambia is a relationship alone.
In fact, only fools like Museveni would have friends with a stupid man like Lungu. Once Lungu is gone, the IMF will come back from day 1. Lungu is the disaster in Zambia and no one else. Zambia is bigger than any individual but with Lungu as the fake president, no one or no institution will take Zambia seriously!!
A useless president whose close associates are the types of Bowman Lusambo, Kennedy Kamba, Mumbi Phiri, Max Chongu, Stephen Kampyongo, etc is not someone anyone would take seriously!
Zambia id fcked until Lungu goes just like Congo is fcked until Kabila goes in exile in South Africa!
Reading the blogs here, one gets the distinct impression that some bloggers want the very worst to happen to this country just because the party in power is detestable to them. From where I am standing, the departure of the IMF from Zambia – it at all it is true – may be a blessing in disguise. It may force us to be more innovative and self – reliant and compel us to come up with alternative means of survival and protect our sovereignty as a country and rely more on our own resources, which are actually abundant. I think it is about time we learnt to stand on our own two feet and not allow us to be victims of external blackmail from donor agencies and predatory international organizations like the IMF.
You must be brain dead or at the very least you are an ignorant person without sound education!!
What you need to remember is that the presence of the IMF in Zambia did not stop us from doing those things you are telling us. The only reason Lungu didn’t do those things is because he wanted to steal and he did steal from Zambians AND the IMF could not stop him from stealing – so DONT LIE!!
Who will suffer and pay? It is you stu.pid uneducated Zambians who cannot find employment outside Zambia that will be burdened with taxes to repay the loans Lungu borrowed recklessly and stole the money!!
Namwishiba fimo te tribalism.Listen to what people with brains are saying.Our economy is hunging on a cliff and it is time to listen to the good advice from people who have the capacity to think and advice the government .What do the great brains get? Insults as a reward for their contributions.Remember we are all Zambians and bad decisions will affect all of us whether PF or UPND.Abasungu aba mumona they differ with ideas but debate intelligently and support one another when it comes to issues concerning their economies .Imwe ninshi batila ati mutuke Jay Jay asumine.What a shame.You will never learn with that thick skin of yours
Its normal internal IMF employee management A replacement will be made to ensure IMF operations within its highest standards It was a normal IMF recall to ensure nothing to do with withdrawals and never withdrawal and IMF doesn’t discuss its employees in the media
No conclusion to the report?
No need to cry. Go Euro and China.
Then they will be give you a loan on condition they build you an airport for $360m, which is actually worth $20m at most