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Zambia [Zimbabwe], June 16 (ANI/Xinhua): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday called for a quick agreement between Zambia and its creditors on debt relief in order to speed up the process of a financing agreement.
Antoinette Sayeh, the IMF deputy managing director, said the attainment of the agreement will speed up the process of finalizing a formal financing agreement between the international lender and Zambia. In remarks delivered at a joint press briefing following talks with finance ministry officials in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, the IMF official said the international lender was encouraged by the engagement done so far between Zambia and its creditors and expressed confidence that the creditors will be encouraged by what Zambia has so far done to deal with its debt crisis. She also expressed optimism that the meeting between Zambia and its Paris Club creditors scheduled for Thursday will be fruitful and provide the much-needed debt relief as the southern African nation has exhibited impressive performance in its implementation of the 2022 national budget. According to her, the government has shown impressive performance in getting resources closer to the people.Sayeh and her delegation arrived in Zambia Tuesday for formal talks with the government on the debt restructuring process. Zambia's Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said the government has done what it could to engage the creditors who have so far made several assurances of providing debt relief. He, however, said it will not be possible to reach a full IMF agreement by the end of this month as initially anticipated because engagements with creditors were still ongoing. The minister expressed optimism that the government will be able to reach an agreement with the IMF by September this year. While expressing optimism about the positive outcome of Thursday's meeting, the minister reiterated that getting debt relief was cardinal in the government's resolve to transform the economy as the move will release resources to other pressing issues, adding that debt restructuring was the only way to put the country's economy back on track. The restructuring of the debt is the key to securing 1.4 billion US dollars in IMF loans. (ANI/Xinhua)
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