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Debt relief in sight

    JOHANNESBURG

    Zambia may soon be eligible for US $2.8 billion in debt relief from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Zambia’s Finance Minister, Katele Kalumba said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) southern Africa summit in Durban.

    Kalumba told delegates the IMF and World Bank had completed an interim poverty reduction strategy paper, one of the steps required for debt relief under the highly indebted poor countries initiative (HIPC). He said that his country had met major conditions for debt relief, including the privatisation of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) and macrocosmic stabilisation measures which included reducing inflation by more than 5 percent.

    Kalumba said that Zambia had an external debt of about US $6.5 billion which amounted to more than 50 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). An estimated three-quarters of this is owed to IMF and World Bank and the rest to bilateral donors.

    In March this year bilateral aid donors wrote off US $408 million in debt and rescheduled US $729 million.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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