LUSAKA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government said on Wednesday that it will start making quarterly reports on the country's debts to avoid speculations.
Minister of Finance Margaret Mwanakatwe said her ministry has now set a standard to be making reports on debt figures public on a quarterly basis.
"This is meant to keep citizens and other interested stakeholders abreast of the developments on this topical issue that has attracted so much attention and interest," she said when she issued a ministerial statement in parliament.
The Zambian minister further said the government was taking the issue of debt sustainability seriously hence its decision to undertake debt sustainability analysis exercises to gauge the carrying capacity as it relates to economic parameters such as gross domestic product (GDP) growth, reserves and debt servicing capacity.
The debt sustainability analysis was meant to give the government an indication of the level of debt that was desirable to ensure that growth was not impaired and that the drive towards poverty reduction remains unabated.
She has since assured that the country's foreign debt, which stood at 9.37 billion U.S. dollars as of June 2018, was 34.7 percent of GDP and below the internationally agreed threshold of 40 percent.
She further said the government has not defaulted on any of its external debt commitments and does not intend to do so.
