Africa-Press – Zambia. Former Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane says he does not anticipate any challenges in re-aligning the 2022 national budget submissions to the policies of the (UPND) administration.
Dr. Musokotwane said that there is still adequate time for consultations and scrutiny of what has been prepared so far by the previous government, adding that there is need to re-open consultations for the 2022 National Budget which is due for presentation within 90 days.
Dr. Musokotwane, who is also UPND Liuwa Member of Parliament, was speaking to ZNBC News in Lusaka today, but acknowledged that even if the 2022 national budget will be a UPND government budget, not all things need to be changed.
The Former Finance Minister said that he does not see any dramatic changes to allocations towards paying salaries for civil servants and for allocations towards the health sector.
Dr. Musokotwane, who is also the chairperson for the UPND committee for economics and finance, has however projected reduced budgetary allocations towards public debt servicing in the 2022 financial year.
He said the UPND is confident that its vigorous negotiations for debt relief will unlock the funding the International Monetary Fund -IMF- has been holding back from bailing out Zambia owing to the failure by the previous government to effectively negotiate with the Fund.
