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Zambia now has more sources to borrow from - Musokotwane

Zambia now has more sources to borrow from - Musokotwane
By Bright Mukwasa
Fri 04 Mar. 2011, 04:01 CAT

FINANCE minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane says Zambia now has wider international sources to borrow from after getting a credit rating. Dr Musokotwane (right) said the ‘B+’ credit rating by Fitch Ratings would also help to attract more international investors as it will act as an investment reference point.

In an interview, Dr Musokotwane said the rating could have been largely triggered by the stable political and social environment obtaining.

“It’s a good investment reference point. It helps, because even those investors that did not know about our investment climate will be interested to look at our markets,” he said.

Dr Musokotwane said the rating also gave the country a good position in terms of accessing borrowings.

“Now we are in a position to go on the market and borrow money. We can go to actual investors and borrow, not only the IMF and World Bank,” he said.

He said because of the rating, the country was likely to witness a surge in investment interests from global investors.

Dr Musokotwane said with the current rating, the government would now issue the US $500million euro bond.

“It’s a requirement, yes!” he said.

Dr Musokotwane said Standard & Poors and Moodys are also expected to announce ratings soon.

Fitch’s Sovereign Group director Veronica Kalema said: “The ratings reflect the marked improvement in Zambia’s economic performance since 2003 driven by improved macroeconomic stability, economic liberalisation, rising private investment and production in the mining sector, and more recently, a strong agriculture performance.”

Zambia’s real GDP growth has averaged 6.3 per cent since 2006 in line with the ‘B’ median five-year growth average and accelerated to 7.1 per cent in 2010.

Labels: FDI, SITUMBEKO MUSOKOTWANE

posted by MrK @ 4:12 AM