Economist Chibamba Kanyama said that he does not see any forgiveness for the Eurobond debt, stating that the only viable thing is to restructure the debt.
Mr. Kanyama added that the possible debt forgiveness Zambia can get is from lending institutions and not the private sector.
Mr. Kanyama said that a major component of the country’s debt is owed to private creditors, Eurobond holders, Chinese Creditors, Commercial Banks within the region, and individuals.
Mr. Kanyama further said that though it is possible for the Chinese government to consider payment of a portion of the debt owed to it, such a probability cannot come from commercial creditors.
Mr. Kanyama’s sentiments were echoed by Financial Analyst Trevor Hambayi who said that commercial debt is very difficult to cancel because of specific conditions that come with such debt.
Mr. Hambayi said that there is a need for Zambia to sort out governance structures that must be embedded in the Republican Constitution to ensure the country does not unnecessarily borrow.
Mr. Hambayi said that the dynamics are different from 2008 when Zambia got debt forgiveness, as, at that time, the debt forgiveness received was on account of it being Multilateral and Bilateral loans.
Adding his voice to the debate, Economist Lubinda Habazooka advised those advocating for the debt cancellation to call for the cancellation of debt that has been acquired outside the country.
Lately, the CSO debt alliance called for the cancellation of up to 60% of Zambia’s debt.
I remember how Jubilee 2000 campaign Ed heavily for Zambia’s
ridiculas to even think it , seeing zambia was already forgiven…………
I bet its the clueless morons who were in the forefront supporting the equally clueless corrupt fraud convict lungu
ati alebwelelapo who trying forwarding this idea………..
Haa that was scary, thought he was dead. It’s DEBT not death.
UPND just Zambia debt is just $12billion, PF didn’t figure out how to count, we thought it was $21billion.
Father Peter Henriot of the Jesuits. Chrispin Mphuka , national coordinator and others fought. Only to have the clean debt slate desecrated by people with the mentality of nindalama zanyoko. Uubomba mwibala alya mwibala. Zangena. And to expect debt to be forgiven again is just absolute madness and stupidity. Do you think the world owes a living!
When you were getting, were you getting with a view to cancellation? The best thing to do is if the interest rate on the current debts is to high then get from a cheaper source so you pay off this expensive debt and remain paying at minimal interest from the new source.
Something missing in the article “the people I know at IMF have told me that”
There difference between the debt forgiveness in 2005 and now is that supporters of debt forgiveness argued that most of the money was used to help liberate southern Africa and refugees. This was the key argument why the debt was finally cancelled.
With the Lungu and PF debt , what is the compelling reason why the debt should be written off?
It was the misguided & reckless PF that got Zambia into debt slavery yet again after the last debt forgiveness about 20yrs ago.
Mr Chibamba are you going to comment on everything? Makes one wonder whether you have time to put things into their proper perspective like most analysts will ordinarily do.