IMF DEAL STILL UNSETTLED – DR MUSOKOTWANE

The Finance Minister reiterated the importance of the IMF deal, today in Parliament during a Ministerial Statement. He explained that since 2016, the country has been grappling with unsustainable debt, and as such this has been experienced through the depreciation of the Kwacha, job losses, an increase in inflation and other issues.

Minister of Finance, Dr Musokotwane has clarified that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal has not fallen through, as some people have claimed.

Dr Musokotwane further explained that the country requires assistance from the IMF for two reasons; 1) their assistance will help the government broker deals on debt restructuring and 2) this will help get the country onto an IMF Program, which help the country access concessional funding that is zero rated, and can be paid back across a period of ten years.

He further added that the IMF will provide financial assistance known as the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) which will provide $1.4 Billion in financial support to the country over the next three years.

The Ministry of Finance has further said that they continue to have high level meetings with the IMF to facilitate the closing of the deal.

The final IMF deal is expected to be completed in the middle of this year.