Any Zambian peddling falsehoods about the country should be ashamed, Minister of Finance Margaret Mwanakatwe told Parliament yesterday.
Mrs Mwanakatwe wondered why anyone should spread falsehoods about the country just to discredit it and cause unnecessary panic. “Let us not put the country on unnecessary fire, let us not spread falsehoods because we only have one Zambia,” she said. The minister was responding to Kabwe Central Member of Parliament (MP) Tutwa Ngulube (PF).

Mr Ngulube wanted to know if those spreading rumours that the country has been sold to the Chinese are not ashamed of themselves after Government’s clarification of the matter. Mrs Mwanakatwe said the peace the country enjoys should not be taken for granted by fabricating lies. And Mrs Mwanakatwe said in a ministerial statement on Zambia’s debt situation that the country is not in debt distress. “Yes, the country’s debt has gone up. This is because there are a lot of needs which have to be met and there is pressure on the treasury,” she said.

When asked by Solwezi East MP Teddy Kasonso (UPND) on how much the country owes China, Mrs Mwanakatwe said Zambia owes that country between 26 and 30 percent of its external debt. Mrs Mwanakatwe said as at June this year, Zambia’s external debt was US$9.37 billion, representing 34.7 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) which is below the internationally agreed threshold of 40 percent.

She said the stock of domestic debt in form of government securities is K51.86 billion, representing 19.2 percent of GDP.
Mrs Mwanakatwe said Government takes issues of debt sustainability seriously. “As a practical step towards ensuring that we are sustainable, Government conducts annual debt sustainability analyses to gauge the carrying capacity as this relates to economic parameters such as GDP growth, reserves and debt servicing capacity,” she said.

The minister also assured the House that Government has not defaulted on any of its external commitments and does not intend to do so.
“We are very much alive to the serious repercussions of any default, on the economy and on other borrowings we have made through cross default clauses contained in financing agreements,” she said.

Mrs Mwanakatwe said Government is equally committed to repayment of its liabilities. “We are thus cognisant of the need for a structured redemption plan that will ensure transparency and smooth processes for handling eurobonds,” she said.

She said Government has devised a eurobond redemption strategy that will establish an optimal plan for redeeming the bonds.
Mrs Mwanakatwe said the strategy will be made public after Cabinet’s approval.