Presentation By Dr. Pollen

Press Statements

During the Zambia Tax Platform BREAKFAST MEETING ON IMPLICATIONS OF FINANCIAL CRIMES ON POVERTY AND INEQUALITY

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on April 15, 2021

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Zambia Tax Platform- ZTP

6 hours ago

PRESS STATEMENT 20th September 2022.ZTP URGES THE GOVERNMENT TO STAY COMMITTED TO MACROECONOMIC REFORMS.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved Zambia’s request for an Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of US$1.3 billion on the 31st of August 2022- a 38 months loan program. The ECF is a type of concessional lending facility that supports countries with prolonged balance of payment (BOP) challenges by utilizing economic programs aimed at moving towards a stable and sustainable macroeconomic position consistent with strong and durable poverty reduction and growth. The benefit of this US$1.3 billion IMF loan is that it carries a zero-interest rate and a repayment period due in 10 years with the first five years as a grace period. Furthermore, the ECF program demonstrates confidence from the international community and provides room for negotiations under the G20 Common Framework to materialize. The Zambia Tax Platform (ZTP) wishes and emphasizes the need for the country to continue pursuing macroeconomic stability, fiscal and debt sustainability to improve the livelihoods of the Zambian people, especially in the long term. In line with the 8th National Development Plan (8NDP), the government has embarked on several structural reforms including containing both domestic and external debt to less than 4.8 percent and 60 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) respectively. Beyond this, Government has targeted to reduce and maintain inflation to range between 6-8 percent and cap the fiscal deficit to 3.6 percent of GDP by 2026 among other reforms. In aligning these plans to Zambia’s long-term development goals, there is a need to improve on the efficiency of public expenditure to ensure the prudent utilization of resources. As much as the ECF provides the country with room to carry out fiscal reforms, public finance management and enhancing domestic resource mobilization are cardinal for economic recovery and transformation. This will demand enhancing efforts to improve tax revenue performance. The capacity of the revenue authority should be strengthened to enhance revenue collections by ensuring efficiency and closing loopholes that drain tax revenues. Consequently, as a way of achieving sustained growth, there is a need to promote interventions that will enhance production and productivity in agriculture, tourism, mining, and manufacturing sectors to support private sector-led growth. To draw some lessons, several countries across Africa (Togo, Sierra Leone, and Guinea) have been on similar programs and their performance under the ECF program was generally satisfactory. However, this was constrained by the risks brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. To add, the last review by IMF on Ghana’s ECF program indicated that significant macroeconomic gains were recorded over the course of the program including rising growth, attaining single-digit inflation, financial consolidation, and improved debt management. Despite the gains experienced by other countries, it is, however, important to not ignore the macroeconomic challenges some of these countries faced post the program. ZTP, therefore, encourages the Government to actively seek out lessons from those countries that have been on this program. This will contribute towards the effective implementation of the ECF program. Ultimately, realizing the program objectives will depend on the Government’s commitment and consistency in implementing the program. Most of all, it will need the patience and overall efforts of the country. Issued byEllen Makinishi (Ms)Private Sector Enhancement ExpertTel: +260211264409Phone: +260968015985Email: pse@zambiataxplatform.comWebsite: www.zambiataxplatform.com ...

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Zambia Tax Platform- ZTP added 8 new photos from September 17 at 4:32 AM.

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PHOTO FOCUS: Workshop on Tax Justice and Resource Mobilization for Public Expenditure Organised by Actionaid Zambia, Zambia Tax Platform, and Centre for Trade Policy and Development. ...

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