{"id":8923,"date":"2021-10-31T01:08:44","date_gmt":"2021-10-31T01:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-pledges-to-slash-deficit-as-it-seeks-imf-deal-debt-restructuring"},"modified":"2021-11-01T01:29:36","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T01:29:36","slug":"zambia-pledges-to-slash-deficit-as-it-seeks-imf-deal-debt-restructuring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-pledges-to-slash-deficit-as-it-seeks-imf-deal-debt-restructuring","title":{"rendered":"Zambia pledges to slash deficit as it seeks IMF deal, debt restructuring"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has pledged to slash the budget deficit and curb borrowing, as the government aims to agree an IMF lending programme by the end of next month and a debt restructuring early next year.<\/p>\n

Presenting the 2022 budget to parliament, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said the aim was to reduce the budget deficit from a projected 10.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year to no more than 6.7% next year. The government is targeting economic growth of at least 3.5% in 2022 compared to 3.3% in 2021.<\/p>\n

Zambia\u2019s talks with the International Monetary Fund have moved quickly since President Hakainde Hichilema won a landslide election against incumbent Edgar Lungu in August and appointed experienced economist Dr. Musokotwane to rein in public finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI \u2026 urge this house and the nation at large to rally together and support government to reach an agreement with the IMF by the end of November,\u201d Dr. Musokotwane said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no option to this otherwise the debts we owe will choke this nation to a standstill,\u201d he added, saying the aim was for a debt restructuring to be concluded in the first quarter of 2022.<\/p>\n

In order to curtail further debt accumulation, Dr. Musokotwane said the government would not contract any external non-concessional loans, except for refinancing purposes. Dr Musokotwane announced that the government-subsidised fuel supply chain would be restructured, he continued.<\/p>\n

He also revealed that government planned to reintroduce the deductibility of mineral royalty payments when calculating corporate income tax \u2013 a reform long sought by mining firms in its important copper sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am certain that the world\u2019s mining investors will be looking at Zambia afresh after today,\u201d said Zambia\u2019s Chamber of Mines president Godwin Beene.<\/p>\n

\u201cRenewed interest from investors today could lead to new mines in production over the next five to ten years, and with the right supportive policies in place, that could completely change our nation\u2019s development trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has pledged to slash the budget deficit and curb borrowing, as the government aims to agree an IMF lending programme by the end of next month and a debt restructuring early next year. Presenting the 2022 budget to parliament, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said the aim was to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8,16],"tags":[234,235,3930,2091,233],"class_list":["post-8923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-debt-accumulation","tag-dr-musokotwane","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nZambia pledges to slash deficit as it seeks IMF deal, debt restructuring - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has pledged to slash the budget deficit and curb borrowing, as the government aim ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-pledges-to-slash-deficit-as-it-seeks-imf-deal-debt-restructuring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zambia pledges to slash deficit as it seeks IMF deal, debt restructuring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has pledged to slash the budget deficit and curb borrowing, as the government aim ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-pledges-to-slash-deficit-as-it-seeks-imf-deal-debt-restructuring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-31T01:08:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-01T01:29:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2021\/11\/img-617f42d9bf45f.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-pledges-to-slash-deficit-as-it-seeks-imf-deal-debt-restructuring#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-pledges-to-slash-deficit-as-it-seeks-imf-deal-debt-restructuring\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Zambia pledges to slash deficit as it seeks IMF deal, debt restructuring\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-31T01:08:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-01T01:29:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-pledges-to-slash-deficit-as-it-seeks-imf-deal-debt-restructuring\"},\"wordCount\":340,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-pledges-to-slash-deficit-as-it-seeks-imf-deal-debt-restructuring#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2021\/11\/img-617f42d9bf45f.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zambia\",\"debt accumulation\",\"Dr. Musokotwane\",\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-pledges-to-slash-deficit-as-it-seeks-imf-deal-debt-restructuring#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-pledges-to-slash-deficit-as-it-seeks-imf-deal-debt-restructuring\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-pledges-to-slash-deficit-as-it-seeks-imf-deal-debt-restructuring\",\"name\":\"Zambia pledges to slash deficit as it seeks IMF deal, debt restructuring - 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