The IMF this week made a positive assessment of Zambia's progress. A news report below:
IMF showers Zambia with praise
Lusaka - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday described Zambia's economic performance as remarkable, praising the southern African country's strengthened macroeconomic policies in a statement.
A team from the international institution, led by Francesco Caramazza that spent about two weeks in the country earlier this month, said it was impressed with fiscal regime changes in the mining sector and Zambia's overall economic performance.
The IMF in the statement issued in Lusaka said: "The mission reviewed economic and financial developments and held productive discussions with Zambian authorities on economic performance in 2006 and on policies and prospects for 2007."
The IMF acknowledged the renaissance of the copper mining sector and that extensive debt relief had markedly strengthened the country's economic prospects.
Caramazza said Zambia's stance on fiscal policy remained prudent in 2006 as evidenced by the decline in the budget deficit when grants were excluded.
In a related development, inflation marginally increased by 0.1 percent this month to 12.7, according to acting director of Central Statistical Office director Efrida Chulu.
She said despite the external forces and factors, Zambia's economic performance was remarkable, recording a significant trade surplus in February.
Zambia's exports include refined copper and crude materials with major destinations as Switzerland, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and the United Kingdom.
The country has maintained single digit inflation for ten months in 2006 but slipped into the double in January this year as economic analysts keenly watch the economic pendulum. - Sapa-dpa
Friday, 30 March 2007
IMF showers Zambia with praise
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Francesco Caramazza is doing this for the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) program.
ReplyDelete"PRGF loans carry an annual interest rate of 0.5 percent and are repayable over 10 years with a 5 1/2-year grace period on principal payments."
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/nb/2002/nb02117.htm
I searched around a bit on the net and it seems that Zambia was a part of a 3 year PRGF program from 1999 to 2003 and again from 2004 until now.
Here is a web page from Jan 2006 talking about GPRF.
http://www.infoexport.gc.ca/ie-en//DisplayDocument.jsp?did=61437
It's interesting to read about their concern about the budget during an election year. Now that the election is over, someone could go back and check to see what actually happened.
I'm quite interested in the national budget. Zambia used to spend a lot on foreign debt. I read that Zambia had got their national debt reduced to just around 500 million USD down from 9 or 11 billion. What are the interest rates on the remaining debt? How much does Zambia spend on that anually etc? Where could I find more information about this?
In the 2007 budget we spent 1.1% on debt servicing following the debt relief. This is about K129bn out of the total budget of K12 trillion.
ReplyDeleteInfact domestic debt servicing is even more at 5.4% or K657bn.
In the past we spent as much as 40% on debt relief. So debt relief has made enough difference. It may not be all new money, but it is new in so far as don't have to pay as much as we used! The issue is the whether it is being used properly.
I have full budget address with break down of all the expendires. Send me an e-mail and I can forward it to you. Email: mwansabombwe1-chola@yahoo.co.uk
The IMF paper also sets out their projections of Zambia's expenditure. The best source is
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2006/cr06263.pdf
I think table 2 gives the overall operations between 2003 - 8.
Hope that is useful,
Cho