International Monitory Fund(IMF) Resident Representative Alfredo Baldini has refuted a story that Tsidi Tsikata has been replaced as IMF Mission Chief for Zambia for failing to close a deal with the Zambian  Government.

Mr Baldini said: “An article published on the web on October 24 on the Media open platform  ” Lusaka Times” claim that Mr Tsikata has been replaced as IMF mission chief for Zambia “for failing to to close a deal with the Zambian government” on an IMF-supported programme. This allegation is utterly false and devoid of substance,” Mr Baldini said.

He said Mr Tsikata’s tenure as Mission Chief for Zambia  came to an end after serving for three and half years.

He said the IMF-supported project was put on hold in August as new information provided to the staff by the authorities on government’s external borrowing plans needed to be reconciled with the key programme objectivity of putting Zambia’s public debt on a sustainable path.

According to Mr Baldini, the IMF Director for African Department Abebe Selassie and the newly appointed Mission Chief to Zambia Boileau Loko will be traveling in the Southern African region next week and that they will be on a short outreach visit to Zambia.

Baldini clarified this during a Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and  Research(ZIPAR) Debt Management Conference at the Pamodzi Hotel.