China has urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to expedite its consideration to assist Zambia with the $ 1.4 billion Economic Recovery Package.
China’s Department of African Affairs Director-General Wu Peng has said that the financial assistance will help Zambia to invest in productive sectors.
Mr. Peng says he is in the country to coordinate China’s response to help Zambia deal with the debt situation.
He says this follows the telephone conversation that President Hakainde Hichilema had with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Mr. Peng says from the foregoing, his country and France Co-Chaired a Creditor’s Committee meeting on Zambia’s debt yesterday.
He said this at State House when he paid a courtesy call on President Hakainde Hichilema.
And President Hichilema has thanked his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for his intervention which has placed Zambia’s debt restructuring efforts in high gear.
He said the country’s debt needs to be unlocked because it is strangling the economy.
The President said that his government wholeheartedly thanked the People’s Republic of China for agreeing to co-chair the IMF Common Framework meeting with France.
“Zambia’s debt situation needs to be unlocked so that Zambia’s economy can be opened up. Mr Peng indicated that his country is ready to partner with Zambia for economic growth and improved living standards for our people, “ Mr Hichilema said.
The president said that his government agreed to work closely to further strengthen an all-weather relationship which saw the TAZARA Railway built by our Chinese brothers and sisters, and helped to open up Zambia to the sea port of Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania.
The President said that he is delighted that the phone call he had with President Xi, just over two weeks ago, has already begun to bear fruit.
