IMF BAILOUT PACKAGE TO BE FINALIZED BY AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
Government says the International Monetary Fund will approval the $1.4 billion loan and associated economic program by August or September this year.
Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane says the discussions with official creditors to provide Zambia with the financing assurances it needs to get IMF board approval for the economic program will not take more than a month.
He made these remarks when he met IMF Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh at his office this morning.
Meanwhile IMF Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh has urged creditors to expeditiously come to an agreement with Zambia on the debt relief so that the programme can be formalized.
And the Visiting International Monetary Fund Deputy Managing Director this morning met with the Public Accounts and Budget and Planning Committees at Parliament in her continued interactions with government focused on recent economic developments.
Discussed at the meeting requested by the IMF team was the overall engagement of the Fund with Zambia including in the context of the ongoing IMF Bailout programme negotiations.
Also discussed was tomorrow’s Creditors meeting between Zambia’s Official Creditor Committee and the IMF, organized under the G20 Common Framework at which the country will present its economic reform agenda and the progress made since it reached the Staff-Level-Agreement with the IMF in December 2021, reforms pertaining to Public Finance Management, Integrated Financial Systems and Public Debt Management in relation to what is happening in the region.
Speaking after the meeting, Public Accounts Committee Chairperson Warren Mwambazi said the members of the two committees probed the IMF Deputy Managing Director on the status of the bailout package among other issues that have been of concern as Zambia is pursuing the loan.