Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda
Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda has disclosed that government intends to rationalize public expenditure and make a projected saving of K5 Billion.
He has told Parliament in a Ministerial statement that this will involve limiting expenditure on recurrent programmes and concentrating on completing ongoing capital projects before embarking on new projects.
Mr. Chikwanda has also disclosed that government wants to further proceed with the already identified financing of K8.5 Billion that is in the current budget estimates.
He has explained that government believes these measures will result in unfinanced deficit of about K10.5 billion that will require new financing.
The Finance Minister states that he is proposing these measures in view of developments in the domestic and external economies that have exerted unseen pressures on the execution of the country’s 2015 national budgets resulting in serious consequences for both revenues and expenditures.
He has cited the drop in copper prices, depreciation of the kwacha and the revision of Mine Taxation regime as some of challenges being faced in the implementation of budget.
Mr. Chikwanda says this is in addition to the increase beyond budget of some category of expenditure that principally relate to the domestic interest payment that have increased by K2.1 billion in response to the rising interest rates in the domestic financial market.
He adds that to this effect he will in line with the Loans and Guarantees Authorization ACT CAP 366 of the laws of Zambia ask Parliament to increase the ceiling on external borrowing from the current K35 Billion to K60 Billion.
And Mr. Chikwanda has also disclosed that Zambia’s total public debt still stands around 32.7 percent of the country’s GDP.
He says he also evoked the Loans and Guarantees Authorization ACT CAP 366 of the laws of Zambia for set up a sinking fund to repay the two Eurobonds government has issued on the international capital market.