Fri, 12 May 2017 12:58:49 +0000 By Mathew Hill Zambia will conclude a deal with the International Monetary Fund for as much as $1.6 billion by the end of June, Finance Minister Felix Mutati said. “We will conclude by the end of the second quarter,” Mutati said in an interview Wednesday in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. “There is no question on whether the deal comes through or not. The deal is coming through.” The country has been talking about getting IMF aid since 2014 but an agreement has been delayed by two presidential elections, which made the required reforms politically unattractive. A team from the Washington-based lender visited Zambia last month and will return at the end of May to continue the discussions, according to Alfredo Baldini, the fund’s representative in the country. The southern African nation, the continent’s second-biggest copper producer, has struggled with ballooning budget deficits in recent years as metal prices […]
ZAMBIA-IMF TO SEAL $ 1.6bn DEAL BY JULY 2017- FELIX MUTATI
