By TIMES REPORTER –
THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has described as false private media reports that the Fund had made comments on the pre-conditions for the IMF programme for Zambia and the performance of the country’s economic team.
A statement issued by IMF deputy director, African Department, David Owen said: “I recently visited Lusaka as part of our engagement with Zambia.
“During the visit, I met with Government, Bank of Zambia, private sector and civil society organisation (CSO) representatives.
“Reports in the private media suggesting that I made comments during the CSO meeting about preconditions for an IMF programme for Zambia and the performance of the country’s economic team are false.
“At my meeting with CSO representatives, I was mainly interested in hearing their views and the discussion centred on how best to address the economic challenges that Zambia is facing.”
Mr Owen further said: “As we have said before, the IMF is committed to continuing its dialogue with the authorities on their policy responses to the current macro-economic challenges facing the country. We look forward to further productive discussions with the Zambian authorities and other stakeholders in the period ahead.”
