African Development Bank Group has offered Zambia a budget support of $150 million as the country tries to deal with the impact of a debt crisis.
The bank hints that the financial support could be just the beginning of its help to the Southern African country which is facing economic challenges.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has also offered the country ''a raft of technical and advisory support'' in the areas of financial, debt and investment management as well as strengthening procurement rules and systems and domestic resource mobilisation.
The ''initial up to $150 million in budget support'' will be presented for approval by the bank's board of directors, it said in a statement on Thursday.
The bank plans to help Zambia in ''several other investment projects in key sectors of the economy, including agriculture, energy, and transport,'' the statement added.
In addition to the planned $150 million in budget support, the bank will help Zambia ''to access another $168 million per year from the non-concessional window of the Bank,'' it said.
President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, was in the Southern African country for a two-day official visit where he held talks with President Hakainde Hichilema.
'Python of debt'
Adesina hailed Zambia for reaching an agreement with its bilateral creditors under the G20 Common Framework on debt treatment.
The Zambian government has “created a sense of hope in the country and confidence in the economy, paving the way for investments to return and accelerate the drive to achieve prosperity,'' he said.
Adesina met with President Hakainde Hichilema to ''discuss further support for the country as it emerges from a successful $6.3 billion debt restructuring for bilateral debtors, under the G20 Common Framework on debt treatment,'' the bank said.
Zambian President Hichilema said his government had made a significant achievement on official creditor debt but that more work needs to be done to tackle debt owed to local and external commercial creditors including Eurobond holders.
“We have lost a lot of time under the ‘python of debt’. We want to now unlock growth and prosperity for our people,” President Hichilema was quoted in the AfDB statement as saying.
The African Development Bank said all its support measures were aimed at ensuring ''Zambia does not again return to a debt crisis.”
