Think tank in Africa’s second largest copper producer, The Economics Association of Zambia on 04 March took a swipe at Brenthurst Foundation Head Dr. Greg Mills article dubbed Avoiding debt default and turning Zambia around — at the same time in the Daily Maverick website.
The Association has associated Dr. Greg Mills with negative Op-Ed articles with intent to damage reputations and cause panic in the international capital markets in the name of independent journalism with exaggerated facts. This was contained in a press release shared with the Business Telegraph. Association National Secretary Rita Mkandawire said the article was written in taste inconsistent with the purported mandate of Brenthurst foundation which is to seek ways of funding Africa development.
Ms. Mkandawire observed with regret that such poetic and extravagance of likening the Zambian debt situation to an alcoholic is malicious and immature which the Brenthurst Charity proprietors should not allow as it reflects very ill intent on the part of its writers. Let alone Zambia’s external debt is in the public domain and it is not rocket science that infrastructure spend which is being carried out with good intent has contributed to the USD9.51billion stock. This is nothing new at all, she said.
Ms. Mkandawire said the Zambian authorities have admitted to the current stock and that they have instituted aggressive measure to manage the stock through austerity measures and a Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) which should see the copper producer on a path to fiscal recovery in the medium term. This the Association believes is not anything new to the outside community. She further highlighted that the Zambian authorities have been transparent through sharing of quarterly fiscal reviews and that Zambia’s balance sheet vulnerabilities are in the public domain and so are the measures that its authorities are taking to correct.
The Association also acknowledges that reserves have fallen to USD$1.6billion but in mitigation, Dr. Greg Mills seems uninformed that the authorities have placed measures such as allowing of remission of mineral royalty taxes in dollars directly to the central bank and that gold will also be added to the stock to assist boost the low stocks. A good and well researched writer would be bringing out all these facts as opposed to one legged facts, the Association believes, the press release carried.
Zambia’s Head of State at the opening of the World Bank International Development Corporation in Livingstone acknowledged copper producer’s debt position and assured international stakeholders that his Minister of Finance and her team were working around the clock to ensure that Zambia honors her obligations, Ms. Mkandawire said.
The Association further wishes to school Dr. Greg Mills that it is true that FQM did express interest in the states 20% stake in Kansanshi mine but the full picture is also that this was not the only unsolicited for bid, other mines have put offers on the table. As though this is not enough, Ms. Mkandawire wondered why offers were on the rise if Zambia truly is not a favorable mining destination?
The Economics Association of Zambia Board said it has done has done its due diligence and has established that Dr. Greg Mills – Head of the Brenthurst Foundation is funded by Anglo America and are skewed to believe further is being used as front to advance ill agenda’s aimed at discrediting African nations in achieving selfish objectives. It advised that if truly the Brenthurst foundations mandated was to seek ways of funding African development, then Dr. Mills would need to rethink his writing style and base it on facts with more mature intent.
The Economics Association of Zambia Board said it is more than convinced that Dr. Greg Mills intention is to cause asset sell off pressure that should force the Zambian authorities to resort to realizing its stake in the mines which whoever is funding him has keen interest in.
The Association will not allow this kind of sabotage to happen but will expose such ill intended motives, the press release carried.