Mixed News

UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) chairman for economics and finance Situmbeko Musokotwane says the Patriotic Front (PF) government is printing money, a situation he has described as disastrous to the economy.

Featuring on millennium radio’s “Interview program,” Mr Musokotwane disclosed that the current balance sheet at the Bank of Zambia (BOZ) indicated that the central bank was loaning out money to government which in itself is equivalent to printing money.

The former finance minister (MMD government) said the current PF government had spent all the money from tax payers and that the only option they had was to borrow money from BOZ, a situation he said was equivalent putting more fuel to fire or salt to an open wound.

‘’The exchange rate under such circumstances is likely to go up because now even to pay external debt, the central bank will be loaning government which is a wrong way to do things,’’ he said.

Mr Musokotwane explained that the mining sector needed to be handled with care as it was the biggest tax payer, employer and forex earner which was benefitting the country.

‘’The PF always want to spend money without understanding production, this is why the mining sector is still facing challenges, in 2010 and 2011 our copper production was more than 2 million metric tons per year but currently we (Zambia) are below 800, 000 metric tons,’’ he said.