By Brightwell Chabusha
We must immediately engage the IMF and request for a staff programme, as a basis to embark on the journey to earn our credibility, creditworthiness, and a path to fully-fledged support, UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has advised government.
The opposition leader said the move to engage the IMF will give the needed assurance to the country’s creditors and potential investors of the government’s commitment to a coherent recovery programme as Zambia focuses on rebuilding its creditworthiness.
“We must immediately engage the IMF and request for a staff programme, as a basis to embark on the journey to earn our credibility, creditworthiness, and a path to fully-fledged support. This will give the needed assurance to our creditors and potential investors of our commitment to a coherent recovery programme as we focus on rebuilding our creditworthiness. The government must provide a full picture of our public external debt, domestic debt and private debt by quasi-government institutions that are not publicly guaranteed,” Mr Hichilema stated.
He said the process must be handled with seriousness, transparency and honesty on the part of the government to demonstrate the expected seriousness and commitment to finding acceptable solutions.
He also proposed to have the 2021 national budget revised and advised government to learn from the experience of Argentina and Ecuador, which only a couple of months ago successfully restructured their debt.