The Development Finance Associates has noted that the 22 million Kwacha debt that was forgiven by china was not part of the country’s debt portfolio.
DFA Senior Partner Trevor Hambayi says this shows that the extent of the debt owed is not known, despite the figures that have been released by the government.
He says there is need to accept that the country is in a debt crisis as evidenced from the by government to pay its salary arrears and some of infrastructure works that have been left incomplete.
Mr. Hambayi says there is also need to be transparent with the debt position as transparency is essential for the country.
In a related Development, the Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) has disclosed that Zambia should increase liquidity to the private sector and halt debt accumulation in order to come out of the current debt situation.
CTPD Researcher Bright Chizonde says there should also be increased allocation to the sinking fund and work towards regaining investor and market donor confidence.
Mr. Chizonde has disclosed that the international Monetary Fund Program is inevitable for the technical support and not just the financing.
He said this I a presentation on “Weathering the Storm of rising public debt: Options for public debt management and debt restructuring in Zambia”.