Zambia President Says Progress Made On Economic Recovery

Five months after taking over a heavily indebted country, the new government of Zambia is making significant progress in the recovery of its economy, its credibility and its solvency.

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said this in an interview with Newsmen.

With loans estimated at 12.7 billion euros, a third of which is due to Chinese creditors, the country had become last year the first in Africa to have defaulted on its debt since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, due to the lack of agreements between previous governments and creditors.

But after 100 days in power and intense negotiations, the new Zambian president obtained a promise of 1.24 billion euros in aid from the IMF at the beginning of December, a chance for the country, which has been strangled by a colossal debt, to get its head above water.

The debt problem could have plunged the new government into crisis but he country managed to manage this default quickly, moreso because previous governments had tried to find an agreement with the IMF, for seven, ten years, without succeeding.

According to him, it was a question of “credibility, seriousness, to join the gesture to the word, there is no doubt about it”, he declared during an interview given on the occasion of a trip to Johannesburg, in South Africa.

The three-year agreement in principle was conceded on the government’s commitment to undertake deep economic reforms.

The Zambian president is particularly pleased with the fact that “for the first time in 17 years, the local currency has appreciated” and that “in the first few months (of his presidency) we have been able to bring down inflation.

Elected in the presidential elections in August, “HH”, the eternal opponent, was elected on the promise of eradicating rampant corruption, reviving the economy and bringing back investors.