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MEFMI Completes Technical Assistance Mission on Fiscal Risks Management in Zambia

  • October 9, 2022
  • Posted by: admin
  • Category: macroeconomic management
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Based on the findings of the first phase of a technical assistance mission to the Ministry of Finance and National Planning of Zambia conducted from 4 to18 April 2022, the Ministry requested MEFMI for further assistance to develop a consistent Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) to assess and quantify fiscal risks and conduct general macroeconomic analysis. The request came at a time when the Ministry is also in the process of formulating an Economic Recovery Programme which is aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability in Zambia in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, Zambia entered a stabilisation programme under the IMF Extended Credit Facility (ECF). This is a highly concessional lending scheme for countries with protracted balance of payments problems.  The ECF programme requires the country to conduct routine reviews of economic developments based on quantitative conditions and structural benchmarks set by the IMF. These developments made it necessary for the Ministry to have a consistent macroeconomic framework in place. In response to the request, MEFMI conducted a mission to develop a consistent macroeconomic framework for fiscal risks assessment and general macroeconomic analysis in Zambia from 20 June to 1 July 2022.

The objective of this mission was to develop a consistent macroeconomic framework to be used to quantify fiscal risks and other external shocks, deepen the Ministry officials’ understanding of fiscal policy analysis and develop the MTFF.

During the mission, MEFMI trained and worked with 27 participants from five (5) departments in the Ministry of Finance and National Planning of Zambia (namely, Economic Management, Debt, Budget, Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Risk Management two (2) from Bank of Zambia, one (1) from the Zambia Revenue Authority and one (1) from the Central Statistical Office of Zambia. Of the 27 participants, 15 of them (56 percent) were male while 12 of them (44 percent) were female.

The mission was facilitated by two (2) resource persons, namely Mr. Senei Molapo, a MEFMI Graduate Fellow and MEFMI Programme Manager, and Mr. Wilson Asiimwe, MEFMI Graduate Fellow and Senior Economic Modeller at the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of Uganda.

Prepared by Senei Molapo