Ratings agencies have been weighing in on Zambia's current fiscal woes. Here is Fitch's rating latest assessment, which seems to point towards a credit downgrade in August if the external position worsens :
The increasingly large budget gap in Zambia may prove costly to finance, Fitch Ratings says. Domestic financing conditions are constrained, and new external financing could push government debt toward 40% of GDP by end-2015.
The fiscal deficit could now jump to 7.7% (on a cash basis), according to IMF projections released earlier this month. The government expects the outturn to be lower, but has indicated that it expects the fiscal deficit to come in significantly above the 4.6% target announced in the 2015 budget. Mining revenue has come under pressure from lower copper prices and changes to the mining tax regime.