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Minister of Finance Alex Chikwanda in Washington for joint IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings

By editor
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Minister of Finance and National Planning Alexander Chikwanda
Minister of Finance and National Planning Alexander Chikwanda

Minister of Finance and National Planning, Mr. Alexander B Chikwanda arrived in Washington DC as head of a Zambian delegation to the 2012 IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings.

Also attending the meetings is the Bank of Zambia Governor Dr. Michael Gondwe and other officials from the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance that includes the Secretary to the Treausry Mr. Fredson Yamba.

According to a programme availed to the Embassy of the Republic of Zambia in Washington DC, Finance Minister Alexander B Chikwanda and his delegation will hold meetings with the management of the IMF and the World Bank such as the Vice President for the Africa Region, Ms. Obiageli Ezekwesili, the World Bank Executive Director Mr. Hassan Taha and the International Monetary Fund(IMF) Director of the African Department Ms. Antoinette Monsio Sayeh to discuss recent economic developments in Zambia, as well as areas where the two institutions can assist in the achievement of Zambia’s development agenda.

Mr. Chikwanda will also meet with the Executive Vice President and CEO of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Mr. Lars Thunell to discuss IFC work programme in Zambia and future assistance. Last December, IFC assured Zambia that it would continue supporting the country’s investment climate reforms and was committed to supporting the new PF government consolidate positive gains already realized.

Another meeting is scheduled between the Minister and the President of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Mr. Daniel W. Yohannes. The MCC recently approved a US$354.8 million Compact with Zambia designed to increase Lusaka’s overall water supply, extend and improve select water supply, sanitation and drainage networks.

The compact also aims to decrease flooding and provide Lusaka residents greater access to water and better water supply, sanitation and drainage services. It also provides technical assistance to ensure women and vulnerable populations benefit from project investments.

As part of the Spring Meetings, the Zambian delegation will participate in different seminars and briefings that have been lined up through to the end of the meetings. One interesting meeting will be on “Mining Tax Regime Meeting: Case Study on Zambia” with Prof Conrad from IGC

Speakers at the various seminars and briefings include a Press Briefing on the “Global Financial Stability Report “ (GFSR) by Mr. Jose Vinals who is the the Financial Counselor and Director of the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets.

Two other documents, the “World Economic Outlook” (WEO) and “Fiscal Monitor Report” will be presented by Mr. Oliver Blanchard, IMF Economic Counselor and Director of Research Department and by Carlo Cottarelli, Director of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department

Zambia will also participate in a seminar entitled “The Rise of Social Safety Nets in Africa” which will bring together policy makers, practitioners, civil society representatives, development partners and Bank Management to review social protection success stories in Africa and elsewhere, the challenges that remain in the development of appropriate safety nets in Africa, the evidence base that safety net programmes help reduce chronic poverty and develop human capital and the key messages from the new Africa Region Social Protection Strategy.

IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde and outgoing World Bank President Robert Zoellick will also participate in Press briefings during the course of the meetings.

editor
editorhttp://www.lusakatimes.com

67 COMMENTS

  2. Just wasting money. All of you should just listen in by skype because you don’t contribute anything anyway! A bunch of people who cant even articulate themselves.

    Send the Moyo girl to represent Zambia, she will do a better job.

  4. Why not shift the capital to another place and forget about the perennial flooding. The meeting is all about Lusaka. What about Ndola, Kitwe, Kalomo or Solwezi?

  5. This signifies to us that no country is an island nor can it ignore concerns raised by the world village on issues of governance. In the event of changing government through democratic process, means any new government is still answerable to this powerful globe village. In the event of certain quarters within our country appealing to this globe village for justice and fairness are issues that need not be ignored for they shall surely be raised when seeking funding for development in our country. It is with this in mind that we hope our team in Washingnton will be ready to provide answers to issues that recently engulfed our nation both in good governance and hints of undemocratic tactics of PF govt.

  6. i hope minister chikwanda wont behave like musokwatene who was jst quite in such high level meetings.but wait a minute cant u guys do anythng without the IMF& world bank,we are tired of this circus.

  9. It is a vacation on a tax payer’s back. He must be feeling out of place in the midst of sharp-elbowed economist. It is time Zambia started electing 21st Century leaders if you want to usher into the global village.

  10. Myself and Nick have completely fallen our with our neighbors after they accused us of refusing to let them come in our garden to look for their cat pipa

    Is this normal?

    Thanks

  11. Recent resolve of PF govt to eliminate all opposition in Zambia will certainly be issues to be faced by the team. Illussions of Zambians voted for PF govt wont stand and perceived political persecutions including that of RB and son Henry (wish them answerable to Zambian law) will be raised. Do not parrot Kabimba’s stance of rediculing RB’s complint of being persecuted. World bank and IMF know Zambian constitution and laws well enough for wrong doers to be accorded fair jurisdiction and not dentensions without bail and false charges being publicised without evidence as has been the case in most cases. Zambia is not an island and repression of justice to innocent and opposing parties will be unmasked as is being seen currently.

    • Unfortunately most of our people are unexposed and totally unfamiliar with the new global reality. Zambia is their whole world and they do not realise the implication of every ‘wild’ statement and thinly veiled unintelligent persecution crusades!

  12. The Deligration will be 99% Bemba. What can these Swines do? Can anything good come out of Zambia these days?

    • Bricklayer, what is it that us from northen province done to you to desrve such bad language?? I just pray that one day, you will realise that we are also human beings and deserve to be accorded the same respect that you accord pipo from other regions of Zambia
      If however thisn is impossible for you to do, I only wish for you that God, who created both you and the swines, as you refer to the bembas, make you realise that we are both his creations.

      thank you sir

  14. Ok , I guess that explains why Wynter Kabimba ‘s verbal diarrheal has gone into overdrive lately to the point of sounding like a government spokesperson. Excited cadre with freedom

    Oh and why the energy is yapping about being lost over the oil deal. interesting

  16. Chikwanda is at sea with the current world economic order. He practices economics from the seventies when he was Finance Minister under UNIP government. He could have been effective then, but has not moved with the times to appreciate innovations that have taken place since, hence the retrogression.

  17. So GK died of severe anaemia ??? MHSRIP. Mushota it is not normal to deny neighbours to check for the CAT in your garden, may be you and Nick stole the CAT. In zambia we dont care about cats , if its not at home we don’t even bother to look for it anyway, even providing food to cats, dogs they fend for themselves from our left overs

    • Yes, you are right, Patambala. Even the chickens we let them out and wait for them to come back when it is getting dark. If we want to slaughter one we just don’t let it out that morning so we can catch it in the pen and get it ready for Sunday lunch… Mushota is a disgrace; can’t even practice ‘village chicken keeping’ in Scotland!?

  21. So we are sending a bunch of people to go and see how much more we can be enslaved by the New World Order custodians?

    The only countries that have progresses are those that have pulled away from the IMF / World Bank arrangements. What kind of crisis do we need to get this simple point to sink into the thick skulls of politicians who are selling our national future for a trip to New York? IMF and World Bank are clearly more interested in us because they can now get more out of us. WAKE UP and smell the nkongole !!

  22. Some posted to send dr Moyo, she has her own agenda. She may be Zambian but she cares more about $$. I think she is compromised. But anyway I hope Zambia can stop relying on IMF and world bank because they made us broke!

  23. These are the same PF fools messing up zambia’s ratings with stupid policy changes and putting political considerations first before economic considerations.They dismissed MMD’s good ratings and when they came into office the ratings were lowered yet they said it wasn’t importatnt.PF is composed of economically illiterate apparatchiks.

  24. Good evening

    The dependency of African countries on Western Finance Institutions is paradoxical and depressing in itself, seeing that everything we need on the continent we only have to dig it or grow it.

    Instead of rallying to attend such international meetings, African leaders would do better to emancipate their thinking and start employing African solutions to African problems. Unity is the first stage.

  25. Chikwanda is going to play the beggar and in the same time…

    According to NGOs in its pilot audit by Grant Thornton, Zambia and Econ Poyry, Zambia lost an estimated income of USD 175 million in tax revenue between 2003 and 2008 from tax avoidance practices’ by Glencore AG International owned Mopani Copper Mines.
    copper from Mopani is sold under a contract with copper in one instance being sold at 25 per cent of official prices at LME. In other words, they are not paying taxes over 75% of the copper sold to Glencore.
    Moreover, in the report by Action Aid, which Mopani has described as flawed and incomplete draft added that the Zambian government (ZCCM-ih) , may probably be losing USD 50 million annually on dividend payments from its 10% stake in Mopani Copper Mines.

  26. continued

    Kansanshi Mining (FQM) owes ZCCM-ih $ 450 million… but those thieves refused to pay its debt….

    Chikwanda, we rely on you..

    you are able to ripp off those foolish Muzungus… as your predecessors did it… !!

    :d

  27. He is not meeting any of the heads i.e. IMF MD or the president of the World Bank. This is such a useless trip and knowing how inarticulate the man is, we are in for some serious embarassment as a nation.

  28. This is an ignorant and out of touch group who will not understand any bit from these meetings. Waste of tax payers money.

  29. Let’s just say Zed was low on the agenda but global economics deem a country like Zed is now very high on an agenda. Beds were made before this current government was chosen. The question is not why we are following an agenda but whose agenda we are on. Timing is everything so it is not the team on the ground to be tested but the many working minds who actually do the real work. I expect the noose to be loosened not tightened but I am no economist. It is just that too many of the ‘resourceful’ promise still lies in our neck of the woods and there is about to be a power tussle from which we may well benefit in the short run. I hope the money crunchers are thinking long term…

    • Therein lies our major concern about the limited savvy of our ‘deal makers’ who Im so sure do not and cannot grasp what is at play here or the global economic politics today to be able to even provide sound guidance or consistent briefing to the local technocrats

    • Will certainly require a couple more seasons, and a whole new relocation of CTI to Lusaka ZAMBIA (Chloe O’brien etc as top operating team!). This is a tough one A’Phiri… as it involves training an almost untrainable army on the art of war (economic war) in the 21st century. Issue is everyone, including the veiled enemy know that they are real powerhouse (they dont know it themselves though that they are the unforeseen force – resource rich emerging markets!).

  30. 25 Mikete,

    ” Moreover, in the report by Action Aid, which Mopani has described as flawed and incomplete draft added that the Zambian government (ZCCM-ih) , may probably be losing USD 50 million annually on dividend payments from its 10% stake in Mopani Copper Mines. ”

    I am sick and tired of them not explaining why they will not tax the mines. The ‘they will bring jobs’ argument is absolute garbage. Unless there is economic diversification, more jobs in the mining sector will not matter to anyone. Because as soon as commodities prices collapse, it is back to square one.

  31. 24 Nine Chale,

    ” The dependency of African countries on Western Finance Institutions is paradoxical and depressing in itself … Instead of rallying to attend such international meetings, African leaders would do better to emancipate their thinking and start employing African solutions to African problems. ”

    The problem is that the IMF/WB have infiltrated governments and are using their own or future employees to carry out their economic policies. The IMF/WB have never developed an economy in their entire history, and there is a reason for that – it isn’t their purpose. Their purpose is to destroy local economies, and make entire countries defenseless against the transnational corporations and the trillionaire bankers who own them.

  32. ” Unity is the first stage. ”

    I agree. Until the IMF/WB can pick off countries one by one, everyone is going to be vulnerable.

    There is a book out by Trilateral Commission co-founder Zbigniev Brzezinski called “The Grand Chessboard” and just looking at the maps, they are promoting unity for Western and Central Europe and North America, and balkanisation for everyone else.

    The reason is that there is strength in unity, and weakness in division. And it is very clear who they want to see divided – Africa, Asia, and even Southeastern Europe.

  33. 22 Zambians,

    ” Some posted to send dr Moyo, she has her own agenda. She may be Zambian but she cares more about $$. I think she is compromised.”

    She spent her career working for Goldman Sachs. Enough said about her.

    ” But anyway I hope Zambia can stop relying on IMF and world bank because they made us broke! ”

    No one gets out of clutches of the IMF/WB. They are a criminal conspiracy. They think, act and work like the mafia.

    And in the word of the original Chicago Boy (as the Milton Friedman school of economics is called), Al Capone: “You don’t get as far with a kind word, as you get with a kind word and a gun.”

    That’s how they operate – like the mob.

  35. No one persuards Zambia not to depend on itself. As long as are countries are run like failed States, we shall continue depending on western influenced institutions. right now the Zambian Government cant run markets, bus stations, border posts, etc. These facilities are run by hooligans called Kaponyas. Zambian government cant collect garbage and cant control street vending. If government is failing to deal with these simple issues, what more complex issues that the IMF/ Word Bank helps as with.

  36. No one persuards Zambia not to depend on itself. As long as our countries are run like failed States, we shall continue depending on western influenced institutions. Right now the Zambian Government cant run markets, bus stations, border posts, etc. These facilities are run by hooligans called Kaponyas. Zambian government cant collect garbage and cant control street vending. If government is failing to deal with these simple issues, what more complex issues that the IMF/ Word Bank helps as with.

    • 36 Blago,

      I take it from your screen name that you’re a republican…

      ” No one persuards Zambia not to depend on itself. ”

      Then you know nothing about the history of the IMF in Zambia, or anywhere else in the world.

  37. The minister said anyone advocating for windfall tax is a lunatic. So isn’t that an admission that the entire team of govt are lunatics since they all vehemently advocated for the same only to do a tambo few days after forming govt. So it seams to me only Magande had balls coz how did he manage??? As for this bunch, don’t be surprised to wake up one day only to find ZCCM reinstated.

  38. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. So what do you expect from UKWA and his minions? We are in reverse gear and Zambia will incur huge debts by the time these guys are through with us. 20th September is a dark day for Zambia.

  39. #12 Bricklayer, what is it that us from northen province done to you to desrve such bad language?? I just pray that one day, you will realise that we are also human beings and deserve to be accorded the same respect that you accord pipo from other regions of Zambia
    If however thisn is impossible for you to do, I only wish for you that God, who created both you and the swines, as you refer to the bembas, make you realise that we are both his creations.

    thank you sir

  40. yawn…wake me up when we have fully arrived in the debt crisis initiated by 70s UNIP economic era! Ground Hog Day!

  41. Somebody has to go and explain why we have not paid back and negotiate when they we will pay back the nkongoles we have. Routine really, may be that is why the Bemba skill of sweet talking is needed.

  44. For all the neoliberal fools who think that there is no coersion involved in the fact that most countries in the world follow the VERY BAD policies of the IMF/World Bank. In the words of President Kenneth Kaunda, from UK Zambians:

    Zambia’s IMF break: Lessons for Latin America
    By Dr Kenneth D. Kaunda
    Posted by Editor on May 21, 2007

    While as our intentions were genuine and straight forward, and *the results of what we planned to do and, indeed began to do, were showing some truly wonderful results*, we were affected by the negative reaction from IMF, World Bank, and some donor governments.

    Economic sanctions were imposed on our government. Assistance was withheld. We were isolated. Africa and debtor governments did not come to us in support.

  45. (Continued…) However, at that time. we registered a record- high economic growth. But the various measures against us weakened the economy. Eventually, we had little choice but to go back onto an IMF and World Bank programme.

    ***

    So there you have it. Everyone knows that non-free trade policies work, including the IMF/World Bank, which is enough to show you that they have an agenda that has nothing to do with the development of any country. Why would they? They are there to increase the wealth of their masters, their shareholders, who are the trillionaire bankers and their extractive industry corporations.

  46. For all the neoliberal fools who think that there is no coersion involved in the fact that most countries in the world follow the VERY BAD policies of the IMF/World Bank. In the words of President Kenneth Kaunda (available online, google title):

    Zambia’s IMF break: Lessons for Latin America
    By Dr Kenneth D. Kaunda
    Posted by Editor on May 21, 2007

    While as our intentions were genuine and straight forward, and *the results of what we planned to do and, indeed began to do, were showing some truly wonderful results*, we were affected by the negative reaction from IMF, World Bank, and some donor governments.

    Economic sanctions were imposed on our government. Assistance was withheld. We were isolated. Africa and debtor governments did not come to us in support.

  47. However, at that time. we registered a record- high economic growth. But the various measures against us weakened the economy. Eventually, we had little choice but to go back onto an IMF and World Bank programme.

    ***

    So there you have it. Everyone knows that non-free trade policies work, including the IMF/World Bank, which is enough to show you that they have an agenda that has nothing to do with the development of any country. Why would they? They are there to increase the wealth of their masters, their shareholders, who are the trillionaire bankers and their extractive industry corporations.

  48. THE ONLY REASON THIS SEASONED POLITICIAN IS ATTENDING THAT MEETING IS FOR HIS OWN EGO. MOST ECONOMISTS KNOW THE IMF AND THE REST OF THOSE EVIL INSTITUTIONS WHO TRY AND BIND AFRICA TO SLAVERY AGAIN, HAVE NO PLACE IN OUR FUTURE. THEY ARE TRYING DESPERATELY TO HOLD ON TO POWER JUST LIKE THIS POLITICIAN.

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