business

Zambia’s government is praised for its initiative to assess domestic debt.

Published

3 months ago

July 8, 2022

On Thursday, the Zambian administration received praise for deciding to carry out an assessment of the nation’s domestic debt.

The nation’s finance ministry announced on Tuesday that it has finished the procedures for hiring impartial consultants to assess the methods used to compile and audit domestic arrears owed to vendors of goods and services to public institutions.

The initiative, which was mandated by the urgent necessity to reevaluate the accuracy of amounts owed by public institutions, was intended to supplement the government’s audit activities.

The decision, according to Nalucha Nganga-Ziba, Country Director of Action Aid Zambia, was long overdue given the country’s limited fiscal room and unmanageable public debt, which were both caused in part by the sharp rise in domestic arrears.

“We have seen that since 2016, the Financial Intelligence Center Trends Report has made reference to the connection between public procurement contracts and corruption, which is typically carried out by politically exposed individuals.” She said in a statement that inefficient purchasing of products and services has resulted in contract inflation, subpar work delivery, and a general lack of openness and accountability.

She asserts that the government’s inability to pay off its obligations has caused the private sector to become strangled, and she adds that the domestic debt audit would enable the government to pay off its debts to the private sector.