Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Margret Mwanakatwe
Finance Minister Margret Mwanakatwe has announced measures aimed at addressing the pace of debt contraction and the affordability of the debt.
Mrs Mwanakatwe says the measures include the indefinite postponement of the contraction of all pipeline debt until the debt is brought back to moderate risk of distress, cancelling some of the current contracted loans that are yet to be disbursed to reduce the debt service outlays, and undertaking refinancing on selected bilateral loans,both local and external, to extend the mature profile and attain lower costs on debt.
She says other measures include carrying out an asset liability management exercise on the debt to ensure sustainability of cash flows; cease issuance of guarantees to commercially viable projects; and cease the issuance of letters of credit and guarantees to state owned enterprises that are technically insolvent until their balance sheet challenges are resolved.
And Mrs Mwanakatwe says the current stock of domestic arrears amounting to K12.7 billion as at end-December 2017 has adversely affected economic activity through elevated non-performing loans and subsequently contributed to reduce private sector financing.
She has since announced measures to address this, which include the enforcement of commitment controls by the ministry of finance to curb accumulation of new arrears.
Other measures include the Secretary to the Cabinet ensuring that civil servants take annual leave to curtail expenditures related to personal emoluments such as commutation of days.