Now France Cancels Zambia’s Debt

The French government has written off US $ 73 million ie 100 per cent debt stock to Zambia. French ambassador to Zambia Francis Saudubray has announced.

Similarly the debt between Zambia and the Pars Club (Cologne) between 2002 and 2005 has also been cancelled. Zambia is getting all these benefits because of achieving the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) completion point. The HIPC initiative has translated into US $ 193million debt write off from France.

Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to write off Zambia’s debt amounting to US $ 577 million. Zambia’s debt is expected to fall down to US $ 502 million up from US $ 7.1 billion that the country owed the international community. This is what is expected once the HIPC and multilateral debt relief initiatives have been fully implemented. With the unsustainable debt off Zambia is expected to achieve a GDP above 6 percent in 2006.

One of the major spin offs is the appreciation of the local currency, Kwacha, which saw a more than 40 percent gain against the US dollar last year. The appreciation, now gripping, has continued such that the Kwacha is now a convertible currency.

So it makes sense to invest here, especially in Zambia safari industry which is still in its infancy.