TIZ CAUTIONS AGAINST POLITICIZING SPECIAL AUDIT REPORT ON ZAMBIA’S EXTERNAL PUBLIC DEBT
By Balewa Zyuulu
Transparency International Zambia -TIZ- has cautioned the public against politicizing the Auditor General’s Special Audit of Zambia’s External Debt Report or labeling it a witch-hunt as though it is targeting specific individuals or companies.
TIZ Executive Director Maurice Nyambe says release of the special audit report on external public debt for the period 1st January 2006 to 31st December 2022 has been long overdue as it has been the subject of civil society advocacy efforts for over a decade.
Mr Nyambe says since the issuance of Zambia’s first Eurobond and the resulting growing evidence of debt unsustainability, there have been calls for the government to explain how Zambia accumulated such huge debt with no corresponding improvements in standards of living or economic growth.
He says the special audit report therefore provides confirmatory evidence on issues such as the level of external debt unsustainability, which reached the height of 70% of gdp in 2020, while the debt stock to domestic debt ratio reached 170% in 2015.
Mr Nyambe also says figures, and the failure to finance the sinking fund and the inflating of interest and principals on loans, coupled by the mismanagement of the Eurobonds, show that zambia has been in debt distress for a long time.
PHOENIX NEWS