By HELEN ZULU –
THE World Bank is concerned with Zambia’s rising debt levels as it is a constraint to the country’s economic growth.
Finance Minister Felix Mutati announced on Friday during the presentation of the 2018 national budget to Parliament that  the total public debt both external and domestic as at August 2017 stood at K114.9 billion, equivalent to US $12.45 billion and representing 47 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Mr Mutati said of that total the external debt accounted for US $7.56 billion representing 29 percent of GDP while the stock of domestic debt was K44.6 billion, representing 18 per cent of GDP.
World Bank country director Ina Ruthernberg, said the institution was concerned with Zambia’s rising debt levels as it was a constraint to the growth of the economy.
She was speaking during the KPMG Zambia Limited 2018 National Budget analysis meeting in Lusaka on Monday.
“As World Bank, we have looked at the budget and we have seen that it is a good document in that it exhibits continuity on the part of government, but our concern is on debt, the rising debt is a source of concern for us as it is a constraint to national development.
“It is important for government to pay attention to the levels of debt, in the instance that government borrowed, there was need for it to ensure that it put the money into good use, there is need for better management of such,” Ms Ruthernberg said.
She also said the World Bank would continue to work with government in its quest to deal with the unemployment issues in the country because that improves the livelihoods of people.
Meanwhile, international economist Professor Oliver Saasa said there was need for prudent management of public resources and careful handling of funds during the 2018 National Budget execution and beyond.
Prof Saasa said Government should focus on revenue generation and also pay attention to how the money is spent to convince stakeholders that the application of public resources was well done.
“I think the focus in this country has been on how to generate money, and we place very little attention on how we spend it, how do we utilise it, what extent do we use it on the basis of what has been planned,” he said.