Organised private sector seeks restructuring of debts owed to regulatory bodies by members

Chingola District Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, Freddie Musonda, says the business community are being chocked by statutory debt due to Covid-19 and inactivity at major mines on the Copperbelt.

In an interview in Kitwe on Friday, Musonda said the government should consider facilitating a debt restructuring on the debt owed to regulatory organisations like the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) and Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA ), among others.

“The business community on the Copperbelt have been hit the most starting with the gassing period through Covid-19 to the Mopani Copper Mine and Konkola Copper Mine inactivity, most of the companies are out of business while others are just surviving, a restructuring will help most of them to cope with the harsh realities,” he said.

Musonda said the debt restructuring achieved by the government with international creditors should have a trickle down effect on the local business by also restructuring NAPSA and ZRA debt.

He acknowledged progress that had been made towards unlocking the mining potential of KCM and hoped Vedanta would prioritise dismantling of arrears left before provision liquidation of the mine.

A week ago, Mines and Mineral Development Minister, Paul Kabuswe, announced that nine out of 10 issues currently on the negotiations table had been ironed out in readiness to hand over KCM to Vedanta Resource probably at end of July, 2023.

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