IMF Chief’s visit, a sign of growing confidence in Zambia’s economy

The visit by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, to Zambia sends strong sentiments about the country.

This is according to the Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane who has welcomed the announcement by Georgieva that she would soon be travelling to Zambia.

“The IMF Managing Director is very busy so unless a country is doing the right thing, she will not waste time visiting, this is a good sign and a strong sentiment,” Musokotwane said in a statement issued on Monday in Lusaka.

He stated that high profile personalities would continue to come to Zambia because the country’s prospects for cooperation and economic transformation were once again looking bright and progressive.

The Minister has also taken the opportunity to welcome Georgieva’s announcement that a new global sovereign debt roundtable of creditor and some borrower countries would meet for the first time on the side-lines of the G-20 Finance Minister’s Meeting in India.

Musokotwane affirmed Zambia’s appreciation for the clarification that the new roundtable would not substitute the Common Framework for debt treatment, but compliment it.

IMF estimates indicate that a substantial number of low-income countries, Zambia included, are in debt distress.

Read more: $1.3bn IMF Deal: Zambia’s Performance to be Gauged in 2023

“Ms Georgieva’s visit comes at a time when Zambia’s international profile is on a rising trajectory because of the good economic transformation reforms that the country has embarked on and the responsiveness of those policies through social sector interventions to the some of the needs of the citizenry,” Musokotwane said.

He cited the increase in Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocation to facilitate greater grass-root led development, recruitment of numerous teachers and health workers to improve service delivery as some of the positive fruits of the country’s transformation agenda.

Other positive transformation agenda cited by Musokotwane were clearance of historical pension’s dues; and, general awareness across the public sector that transparent and accountable governance is now becoming the mainstay in the handling of public resources.

Former IMF Managing director’s Rodrigo de Rato, and Dominique Strauss-Khan, visited Zambia in March 2006 and March 2011, respectively.