Secretary to Treasury, Nkulukusa, sheds more light on debt restructuring journey, as IMF notes progress

Secretary to the Treasury, Felix Nkulukusa, says the government will before the end of the month finalise agreements with its creditors for debt restructuring.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has noted progress the country is making in debt restructuring work by maintaining fiscal prudence.

Speaking during a public lecture sponsored by USAID on post-debt restructuring, Nkulukusa said the country was on course to restructure its debt.

“We are on course in achieving debt restructuring, all parameters are in place to enable restructure our debt looking at the foundation we led,” he said.

Nkulukusa stated that despite the economic headwinds, government had put in place mechanisms to place measures to handle post debt restructuring.

He said the government was banking on sectors such as mining, agriculture, tourism and manufacturing to support growth in the medium to long term.

In answering questions from the students at the Copperbelt University on debt restructuring, Nkulukusa said the debt restructuring was not aiming at punishing the future generation but placing the country for growth.

While acknowledging that debt restructuring on itself would not bring instant benefits, he said it was a ‘necessary evil’ looking at the current debt stock.

Nkulukusa urged the citizenry to believe in government’s quest for debt sustainability.

He observed that the country had been in default mode since 2020 which could not continue.

During a panel discussion, IMF Zambia resident representative, Eric Lautier, stated that Zambia had outperformed IMF expectation in managing its fiscal policy.

“The MF has noted progress made by Zambia in managing its fiscal consolidation because that has been done while funding key social sectors such as health, education and social safety nets,” Lautier said.

The panel also featured PwC country senior partner, Andrew Chibuye, ZANACO chief risk officer, Mutusunge Zulu and Civil Society Debt Alliance national coordinator, Peter Mumba, who gave insights on the post-debt restructuring.

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