Maravi

Daka urges prudent management of public funds

Daka urges prudent management of public funds
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Fri 05 Mar. 2010, 04:01 CAT

THE benefits of debt relief will not be realised by the Zambian people for as long as there is no commitment to prudent management of public resources, acting finance minister Peter Daka said yesterday.

And Belgium has cancelled the 5,100,000 euros about K34 billion loan that was lent to Zambia towards the rehabilitation of Lusaka International Airport. During the signing of the debt cancellation agreement, Daka said efforts by donors to relieve indebted countries of the debt burden should not be taken for granted.

“As government, we believe that as long as there is no commitment to prudent management of public resources, the benefits of debt relief will not be realised by the masses,” Daka said.

“It is for this reason that government has in recent years put emphasis on effective public resource management to ensure that the desired benefits of economic development are realised. Government also realises that efforts to relieve countries of the debt burden should not be taken for granted.”

He said the government was implementing the public debt reform with a view to ensuring that the debt was contracted at low cost and minimum risk.

“The government has thus been embarking on the implementation of the public debt reform programme, which, among other things, includes implementation of a debt strategy that will ensure that debt is contracted at low cost and minimum risk in order to maintain sustainable levels of sovereign debt that will prevent the country from falling back into the debt trap,” Daka said.

Daka, who thanked the government of the Kingdom of Belgium for the gesture, urged other donors who had pledged to cancel Zambia’s debt to do so.

The interest free loan that was acquired in 2000 had a grace period of 10 years, implying that Zambia would have started paying back the principal amount in installments beginning in 2011 over a period of 20 years.

Labels: DEBT, PETER DAKA

posted by MrK @ 5:21 PM