Authorities in Zambia have asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase its $1.3 billion loan programme to $1.7 billion to enhance its response to a severe drought affecting the country, the global lender says.
IMF in a statement said it had reached a staff-level agreement on the third review of the southern African country’s Extended Credit Facility.
Heritage Times HT reports that Zambia will have access to roughly $573 million, the fourth disbursement under the facility as soon as the latest demand for upward review is approved by IMF’s executive board at a meeting expected to hold at the end of June.
Zambia, already battling a high debt profile is one of the few African countries grappling with a drought induced by a weather condition called El Niño, which has plunged parts of the region into hunger.
The copper-rich country is close to emerging from a debt-restructuring process beset by delays after more than three and a half years.
Zambia’s finance ministry said last week that more than 90% of holders of its $3 billion in outstanding international bonds had accepted a restructuring proposal.
Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said the staff-level agreement announced on Tuesday was “testament to Zambia’s determination to rebuild macroeconomic and debt sustainability” and its efforts to finalise restructuring talks within the parameters of its IMF programme.
