British envoy urges responsible borrowing

Outgoing British High Commissioner to Zambia James Thornton has stressed the need for Zambia to borrow responsibly.

Mr. Thornton has told Qfm News that much is it up to government to decide how much it needs to borrow, it is only advisable to borrow if expenditure from such debt will go towards things the country really needs and have value in the long term.

He says this is while keeping in mind that there is no free money, bearing in mind that debt will have to be offset in due course.

Mr. Thornton has explained that this means that government has to think about how it will pay back the debt by ensuring it is able to pay interest on the debt and pay the lump sum when payment is due.

Government last week secured Parliamentary approval increasing the debt ceiling from K35 billion to K60 billion.