Debt Levels Unsustainable – HH

UPND President Hakainde Hichilema (HH) has described Zambia’s debt as unsustainable.  

External debt is estimated to stand at around K268 billion ($12 billion), with half held by private creditors. 

The Government missed a deadline to pay K950 million ($42.5 million) in interest due on a bond set to mature in 2022. Earlier this year it failed to pay K1.2 billion ($56.1 million) in interest on another bond. 

“The debt has really reached unsustainable levels,” HH has been quoted as stating. The UPND leader has accused the PF Government of running up huge debts to fund their spending on luxuries while the majority of citizens struggle to put food on the table or find decent jobs. 

“They created the debt crisis, and they don’t know how to get out of it,” HH claims. 

The UPND is centring its campaign for the upcoming August 12 elections on the party’s pledge to fix the economy, drawing on HH’s profile as an economist and self-made businessman. 

Among the plans set out by the opposition party it its recently launched manifesto are the prioritisation of job creation through targeted interventions, the incentivisation of local investors to go into manufacturing through the establishment of a citizen credit institution and the rollout of a national programme for innovation to unleash the talents and creativity of Zambians.