• Zambia’s economic program is well established.
• Government has shown commitment towards improving people’s welfare.
• The economy had suffered a lot of challenges to grow.

An Economist has urged government to identify key priority areas to invest in using the money that should have been channeled towards paying debt.
Speaking to Money FM News, Partner Siabutuba says investing in key sectors such as mining and agriculture is the only sure way of growing the economy, so that when the country starts paying back the debt, it would have developed the much needed capacity and resilience.
Mr. Siabutuba noted that Zambia’s economic program is well established as government has shown commitment towards improving people’s welfare even amidst the huge debt burden which has negatively affected growth.
“We need to appreciate the fact that our economy had suffered a lot of challenges to grow and the biggest challenge that made our economy fail to grow was debt. But we have a government that is committed, that knows what it is doing; we would have been defaulting left, right centre.”
“What is important right now is to identify key investment priority areas, that once invested with the money that otherwise should have been paying debt, then we are going to help grow the economy, then when that time comes to be able to pay, the economy would have developed the capacity and resilience, that once we begin paying the debt, we are not going to undermine the growth of the economy that we would have achieved that particular time,” Mr. Siabutuba stated.
He noted that due to the huge debt burden, most of the money mobilized locally was going towards debt payment, hence government failed to provide quality public service and was unable to invest in activities that will help the economy to grow.
On Tuesday, Minister of Finance and National Planning disclosed that postponement of Zambia’s debt payment through extended maturities will generate US$5.8 billion in debt service savings between 2023 and 2031.
Zambia’s external debt is US$18.6 billion, out of which official creditors such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are owed $6.3 billion, while private creditors, including commercial banks and bondholders, are owed the remaining $12.3 billion.