Zambia’s highest decision making organ, the Cabinet which is composed of ministers has directed that the ministry of Finance submits a list of loans to be considered for cancellation, postponement or slowdown as a measure to address external and domestic debt.
Minister of Finance, Magerate Mwanakatwe has also been directed to present to cabinet at its next sitting a list of project loans to be considered for slowing down, postponing and cancellation. In doing so, projects that are of an economic nature will not be cancelled as resumption of growth is important to address the current challenges.
Minister of Finance Margaret Mwanakatwe has disclosed at a media briefing that “in view of the prevailing economic situation that the country is going through, the president called for an urgent Cabinet Meeting on Monday 27th May 2019 at state house to get a full brief on the state of the economy.
President Lungu further engaged cabinet and his top ministers to decide on measures to be taken to restore the macro-economic stability, debt sustainability and ensure that growth is restored on an upward trajectory for the benefit of Zambians.
The finance minister stated that cabinet directed that legal reforms such as the enactment of a new public procurement law should be hastened to ensure value for money and that ministries should improve on contract management.
Cabinet also directed that no Ministry, Province or Spending Agency should contract for goods and services without availability of funds even if it is budgeted for, to stop the accumulation of arrears. To this effect the Treasury was directed to issue strict guidelines on the matter.
The minister says the treasury was also directed to ensure that the measures above are implemented expeditiously to facilitate the sourcing of external funds to finance critical expenditure in the 2019 budget that are required to support growth.
The fiscal side of economic management has been sited as the weakest link in Zambia’s macro-economic management system with analyst calling for professionalism of this important aspect needed to stabilize the country’s performance.
