- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ |
Zambia's leader says turning around economy, despite empty coffers
President Hakainde Hichilema on Thursday said his new government was on the fast track to restoring Zambia's credibility and creditworthiness after inheriting an economy strapped for cash and crippled by debt.
Previous governments had failed to unlock bailouts in tough talks with creditors and in 2020, Zambia became Africa's first country to default during the Covid pandemic.
But last December, Zambia clinched a $1.4-billion, three-year credit line from International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- a breakthrough that came just four months after Hichilema won historic elections at his sixth attempt.
He told AFP in Johannesburg that the deal was evidence that the copper-dependent economy was at last starting to turn around.
Inflation -- at 15.1 percent, according to official figures -- is now the lowest in nearly two years, and the local kwacha currency has appreciated for the first time in 17 years, he said.
Zambia's external debt swelled to $14.7 billion under his predecessor Edgar Lungu.
"The debt crisis is one that would have sent a new leadership into a crisis" but "we went on to manage that default quickly," he said.
He said previous governments had tried "for seven, 10 years" to enter into an agreement with the IMF, yet his team had concluded it within a few months.
It was about "credibility, seriousness, walking the talk, there's no question about that," he said.
- Tough turnaround -
Hichilema, a businessman turned politician, swept to power on promises to revive the economy, root out graft and woo back scared investors to Africa's second biggest copper producer.
"It was never going to be easy", he said, proudly chronicling some of his achievements this far. In the case of the kwacha, the currency gained 27 percent against the greenback in 2021, according to market data.
"But we know how tough it is. Some things will take slightly longer because the hole is deeper, but we have to dig ourselves out of that hole together," Hichilema cautioned.
He said he had also delivered on a promise to offer free primary and secondary school education.
Retired public workers, he said had not been paid for 20 years, received a first payout last month despite his government inheriting a "largely empty treasury."
Hichilema's surprise election has spurred hope for opposition parties elsewhere in Africa, where incumbents routinely rig elections.
Despite being a "new kid on the block... I'm learning at the same time, I'm sending a message to colleagues that we can do better," he said.
"As a continent, we can be defined differently. We shouldn't be defined by military coups" but by "constitutionalism, respect for human rights, democratic space, inclusion, not exclusion."
He was in South Africa on a private visit, as a guest at the launch of a book titled "Expensive Poverty" by Greg Mills. He also held talks with President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday.
M.Odermatt--BTB