Zambia hopes to reach agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a new support programme by the end of the year to attract investment and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said on Thursday.
"Our wish is that certainly before the end of the year, we should have agreed with the Fund," Musokotwane told Reuters in an online interview.
The copper-rich Southern African country's most recent IMF programme ended in January, with total disbursements of $1.7 billion helping it emerge from a protracted debt-restructuring process.
"We need to do more than just get out of the debt crisis. We need to attract investments now so that growth takes place and jobs are created. And investors, or some of the investors, certainly feel more comfortable when there's an IMF programme in place. So this is where we are," Musokotwane added.
An IMF staff team visited Lusaka between April and May, saying discussions on a new programme had advanced and were expected to continue after Zambia's general election in August.
