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The British government has disbursed £6.5 Million which is equivalent to K65.6 million budget support to Zambia.
The support will be channelled through Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID).
In a confirmation letter to the Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba, Resident Head of DFID, Emma Donnelly, said the release of the 2014 budget support was based on Zambia’s impressive progress in several areas of cooperation.
“There has been no evidence of breach of the four underlying principles of poverty reduction budget support,” she said.
Ms. Donnelly said Britain welcomed the fiscal measures taken by the Zambian government to not only keep vigil on the budget deficit and strengthen fiscal discipline.
The British development cooperation envoy also commended Zambia for substantially scaling-up the social transfer scheme and making progress towards development of a full IMF programme.
She affirmed Britain’s commitment to continue supporting development efforts by focusing more on complimenting the Zambian government’s endeavours aimed at better management of poverty reduction programmes, through DFID support to the private sector in ways that facilitate pro-poor growth.
According to a statement released to ZANIS today by Ministry of Finance Public Relations Officer Chileshe Kandeta, Mr. Yamba thanked the British people for their timely assistance and reiterated the governments’ commitment to utilize the funds on poverty reducing activities.
“Notwithstanding the source of revenue, the best way to honour the late President Michael Chilufya Sata for his principled approach on fiscal discipline, infrastructure development and poverty reduction is to ensure that there are no slippages in resource utilisation,” said Mr. Yamba.
Britain is the first Poverty Reduction Budget Support [PRBS] Cooperating Partner to release committed funds for supporting the government’s 2014 budget.
Meanwhile, Zambia’s two Sovereign Bonds that were issued in the International Capital Market has continued to post positive performance.
“According to market assessments, Zambia’s US$1 Billion Bond currently trading at 113%, has the best price amongst the African Sovereigns. The price for the US$750 Million bond, at 95.38%, is an improvement from the below 90% levels recorded in the first and second quarters of 2014,” the Secretary to the Treasury has observed.
Commenting on the US$750 Million Bond, Mr. Yamba disclosed that the yield has strengthened and the bond is now trading at a rate of 6.23 percent, up from the 8 percent levels recorded in April 2014.
Mr. Yamba assured that the Treasury will continue to issue briefs to ensure that credible information is shared with the public, both locally and in the international socio-economic arena.
The USD 750 Million bond matures in 2022 while the USD1 Billion bond matures in 2024, respectively.
