Government Clarifies Zambia Has No Arrears with the IMF
The Zambian government has moved to clarify that the country holds no arrears with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), following public debate over remarks made by Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Mulambo Haimbe at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.
In a statement issued through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Principal Public Relations Officer Eva Hatontola said Mr Haimbe's comments referred specifically to overdue payments, not the total stock of debt owed to the Fund. The Ministry confirmed that Zambia has met all scheduled repayment obligations and has not defaulted since the start of its debt restructuring process.
Mr Haimbe said Zambia's engagement with the IMF has transitioned from programme lending to post-programme surveillance, a standard arrangement following the successful conclusion of an IMF-supported programme. There is no active IMF lending programme currently in place.
The country continues to carry concessional obligations linked to past IMF support, which the Ministry described as long-term, low-interest, and development-oriented. These obligations, it said, are fully current and form part of Zambia's normal multilateral financing framework.
Zambia exited its 38-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement in January 2026. The programme, originally approved in August 2022 at SDR 978.2 million and later augmented to around US$1.7 billion, was designed to restore fiscal and debt sustainability following the country's November 2020 Eurobond default. Debt treatment has proceeded under the G20 Common Framework.
The Ministry said completion of the ECF has unlocked further concessional financing from multilateral partners, including the World Bank. In its most recent Article IV assessment in 2025, IMF staff classified Zambia's public debt as sustainable but remaining at high risk of overall and external debt distress, with reforms on governance and revenue mobilisation flagged as priorities.