Africa-Press – Zambia. Veteran Politician Akashambatwa Mbikusita Lewanika has charged that there is nothing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will bring to Zambia that they did not bring in the past other than impoverishing the country.
Mr Lewanika told the local radio station QFM that IMF conditions and their interest, as well as objectives, have never changed, recalling that when the United National Independence Party (UNIP) administration brought the IMF and the World Bank in 1986 it led to food riots in the streets.
Mr Lewanika said that it is backward to think that Zambia or indeed Africa cannot develop without the International Monetary Fund, stating that genuine development is always self-dependent, stressing that the country should first sort out the economy it wants as well as its political system.
Mr Lewanika said that the idea of foreigners deciding what the problem is, what the solution is and where to invest in a country is a major problem which must be addressed.
Yesterday the Government said that the International Monetary Fund will approve the $1.4 billion loan and associated economic program by August or September this year.
Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said that the discussions with official creditors to provide Zambia with the financing assurances it needs to get IMF board approval for.
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