The Association of Microfinance Institutions in Zambia (AMIZ) says it expects the 2023 national budget which Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane is scheduled to present tomorrow, 30 September 2022, to address the dismantling of local debt.
Association Executive Director Webby Mate said most microfinance customers are people who participate in the local government debt so it would be beneficial for government to continue dismantling the debt as this will start putting money into the economy.
Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Mate said once government starts putting back money into the economy; it will contribute to growing the economy and ultimately attain some of government’s objectives such as achieving the 3% growth.
He noted that the cost of doing business has always remained high therefore; government should work on pronouncements that will help address the matter and bring down the cost of doing business.
“The major issue was debt, which government has taken positive steps in addressing and as a result we have seen inflation trending downwards, kwacha strengthening though not very much because of developments elsewhere. The dollar is becoming bullish so other currencies are beginning to suffer and the kwacha will not be spared also, within the confines of our economy, all this has happened because of the positive steps government has taken”, he said.
Mate mentioned that the association wants to see government continuing with infrastructure development because microfinance customers are business people who travel on roads to get supplies and deliver supplies.
“The state of the roads is very worrying right now and the rains are yet to come so after the rains these roads will even be in a very bad shape so we hope government can begin to move in that direction, fixing some of these roads”, he added.
He said so far, “The 2022 national budget has generally performed well, given the fact that in June this year, government requested for the approval of a K22 billion supplementary budget to spend money they claimed they had saved”.
“This means the budget has performed well than people expected, we have free education, the issue of CDF, the Ministry of Local Government is always announcing when a quarter comes and when it has been disbursed. They are managing their flows well and we can only encourage them to continue doing the same as they plan for 2023”, Mate added.
