LUSAKA (Reuters) – Zambia plans to limit the fiscal deficit to 7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2017 from a projected 10 percent this year, new Finance Minister Felix Mutati said in a budget speech on Friday.
Presenting the 64.5 billion kwacha ($6.6 billion) budget to parliament in Africa’s second-largest copper producer, Mutati said the government would limit domestic borrowing to 2 percent of GDP in 2017, slightly higher than 1.2 percent this year.
“We are all agreed that the task of restoring stability and accelerating growth will not be easy. We have to be bold and decisive,” Mutati, who was appointed in September, said.
(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by James Macharia)
