Zambian government unveils 2017 budget

By Francis Maingaila

LUSAKA, Zambia (AA) – Zambian Finance Minister Felix Mutati has proposed to spend a total of around $6.5 billion representing 27.7 percent of GDP in the country’s 2017 national budget, up from the nearly $5.5 billion proposed in 2016.

Mutati told parliament on Friday that roughly $4.3 billion will be financed through domestic revenue, nearly $2 billion through debt financing from domestic and external sources and $224 million will be financed by grants from cooperating partners.

“The resources have specifically been allocated in this budget to dismantle the arrears owed to contractors, including suppliers of goods and services and will help to reduce high inflation rate to a single digit level,” said the finance minister.

According to Mutati, the move is aimed at unlocking the crunch in the economy and to support not only growth to key sectors of the economy, but to sustain and enhance the critical services of health, education and public orders.