{"id":273631,"date":"2026-01-08T06:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T06:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/273631\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T06:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T06:31:07","slug":"zambia-drops-plan-to-extend-imf-loan-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/273631\/","title":{"rendered":"Zambia drops plan to extend IMF loan programme"},"content":{"rendered":"

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Zambia has ditched plans to extend its International Monetary Fund loan programme before the scheduled expiration at the end of this month, the fund said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“While the authorities initially requested a one-year extension of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement, they have since informed the IMF team that they will not pursue this option,” an IMF spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

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The programme was agreed in 2022 to help Zambia restore debt sustainability after its 2020 default.<\/p>\n

The sixth and final review under the arrangement is expected to be considered by the fund’s executive board at the end of January.<\/p>\n

Zambia had hoped to secure about $145 million in additional funding through the extension.<\/p>\n

No reason was given for the decision, which comes as President Hakainde Hichilema’s government prepares for elections in August while facing double-digit inflation.<\/p>\n

The government forecast an improved fiscal picture for 2026, estimating that the budget deficit would shrink by more than half and that economic growth would rise above 6%, following years of protracted debt restructuring negotiations and a severe drought.<\/p>\n

Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, Chris Mfula and Sfundo Parakozov; Editing by Edmund Klamann<\/p>\n

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Purchase Licensing Rights<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JOHANNESBURG, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Zambia has ditched plans to extend its International Monetary Fund loan programme before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[82772,82519,79,84893,84897,82543,82538,82546,82556,82549,82541,82550,84041,83391,83393,88447,83806,83392,82547,82557,82540,82551,109232,83116,179,18,55396,82578,32356,45748,85214,83117,88436,102140,19,13484,82765,17,105113,83122,82524,102141,82508,102694,107,102693,109231],"class_list":{"0":"post-273631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-afr","9":"tag-amers","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-cdm","12":"tag-dbt","13":"tag-destabn","14":"tag-destabx","15":"tag-destbnx","16":"tag-destd","17":"tag-destdnp","18":"tag-deste","19":"tag-destfun","20":"tag-destm","21":"tag-desto","22":"tag-destoil","23":"tag-destozabsm","24":"tag-destozatpm","25":"tag-destpen","26":"tag-destpsc","27":"tag-destrbn","28":"tag-destrnp","29":"tag-destucdptest","30":"tag-eafr","31":"tag-eco","32":"tag-economy","33":"tag-eire","34":"tag-emea","35":"tag-emrg","36":"tag-fin","37":"tag-gen","38":"tag-gfin","39":"tag-govact","40":"tag-gvd","41":"tag-gvgvf","42":"tag-ie","43":"tag-imf","44":"tag-intag","45":"tag-ireland","46":"tag-loa","47":"tag-mce","48":"tag-namer","49":"tag-pbfact","50":"tag-pol","51":"tag-safr","52":"tag-us","53":"tag-za","54":"tag-zm"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115858078659557424","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}