Musokotwane borrowed $6.4 billion in 2023 but Lying About UPND’s Excessive Borrowing
By Kasonde Mwenda C -EFF President
Contrary to their campaign promises, the UPND Government has turned out to be callous peddlers of falsehoods. They are lying about almost everything from the true state of the economy to the excessive debt they are incurring every day. According to the IMF, as captured by Statista, Zambia’s national debt increased by $6.4 billion USD (+33.42 percent) in 2023 compared to the previous year. Consequently, the national debt reached a peak in 2023 at $25.5 billion USD. Notably, this debt has continuously increased over the past years. In 2021, when Hakainde Hichilema and his UPND Government took office, the Zambian debt stood at $19.4 billion USD. Yet, in just two years, it has ballooned to $25.5 billion USD.
Zambia’s Finance Minister, Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, has falsely claimed that Zambia’s external debt has only increased from $13.04 billion to $14.7 billion, while domestic debt has risen from K194 billion to K225 billion since the UPND took over in 2021. Consequently, the IMF’s projection of Zambia’s economic growth rate has been reduced from 4.7% to 2.3%, prompting the IMF to increase Zambia’s borrowing window from $1.3 billion USD to $1.7 billion USD.
Unfortunately, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema and Dr. Musokotwane have not presented any plan on how they intend to pay off this excessive debt. Instead, they are pushing this burden onto future generations, much like the previous PF regime did.
As the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), we have a plan to redirect our country from being debt and aid dependent to becoming productive through maximizing our mineral and agricultural resource potential. We will achieve this by shifting ownership of resources to benefit local Zambians and ensuring that every geographic region has a viable industry maximizing its resource potential. Every district will have a factory and a mine.
We demand transparency and accountability. The UPND Government must uphold integrity and stop telling lies. The people of Zambia deserve better than deception and reckless borrowing. We call on all Zambians to hold the UPND Government accountable and to demand a sustainable and truthful approach to our nation’s finances.
Kasonde Mwenda C
President, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)