{
  "title": "Transcript of African Finance Minister's Press Conference",
  "publication": "IMF News, October 14, 2023",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2023/10/14/transcript-of-press-briefing-african-finance-minister-s-press-conference",
  "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2023/10/14/transcript-of-press-briefing-african-finance-minister-s-press-conference",
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  "summary": "Transcript of African Finance Minister's Press Conference at the Annual Meetings 2023",
  "publishDate": "2023-10-14",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Debt restructuring outcomes and status",
      "content": "- Zambia: Agreement reached with members of the Official Creditors on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalize understanding reached with creditors in June.\n  - Next step: signing bilateral agreements based on the MoU between members of the Official Creditors and the Republic of Zambia.\n  - Official Creditors Committee (OCC) members cited: China, France, South Africa (Deputy Chairperson referenced).\n- Chad: Restructuring undertaken under the G20 framework; described as a pari passu restructuring involving official and private creditors.\n  - Outcome described: “Now our debt has become sustainable.”\n  - Debt servicing timetable was extended and interest rates were lowered in prior negotiation rounds; restructuring aimed to make payments fit the macroeconomic profile and oil price volatility.\n- Key referenced terms from coverage and questions:\n  - Reported earlier reduction in present value terms for Zambia “around 40 percent” (questioner reference).\n  - Reported extension of maturity “all the way to 2043” (questioner reference).\n- Commercial creditors:\n  - Zambia: “Heavily engaged” with private/commercial creditors; progress on Official Creditors expected to leverage private creditor discussions.\n  - Chad: Progress contingent on oil price trajectory; improved prices reduce debt burden and could enable repayment of commercial debt."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Timing, process, and lessons learned",
      "content": "- Zambia:\n  - Minister’s correction: engagement-to-financial-assurance took “nine months” (contrasting a questioner’s “three years” phrasing).\n  - Lessons emphasized:\n    - Early engagement when vulnerable to debt is recommended.\n    - Full acceptance and transparency about the problem is critical.\n    - Establish and demonstrate credibility to creditors, donors, and citizens by committing to self-help reforms and fiscal constraints (including legislative limits on future borrowing).\n    - Reprioritization of spending toward social services (example: education) and removing unsustainable subsidies (example: fuel) to free resources.\n- Chad:\n  - Negotiations took “18 months” (Minister’s account).\n  - Lesson: restructuring needs to be robust to commodity price swings; contracts reorganized so debt service is manageable even if oil prices fall."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Macroeconomic effects and key statistics",
      "content": "- Chad:\n  - Growth trajectory cited by questioner and Ministers: “from 2.1 percent in recession to plus 2.5 percent in 2022 and now we are looking at 4 percent growth.”\n  - Debt-to-GDP ratio referenced by Minister Nguilin: “about 25 percent, probably even less.”\n- Zambia:\n  - Debt sustainability analysis and macro projections anchor creditor discussions; specific numeric terms of agreements were not disclosed by the Minister in the briefing.\n  - Earlier referenced negotiation outcomes (questioner mention): “reduction in present value terms of the debt by around 40 percent,” maturity extension “to 2043,” and “a pretty significant reduction in interest rates” — Ministers indicated fundamentals and DSA principles guided terms but did not present detailed figures on-stage."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy priorities and reform measures",
      "content": "- Zambia policy priorities described by Minister Musokotwane:\n  - Use debt restructuring as a steppingstone, not an endpoint—complemented by domestic reforms to attract private investment.\n  - Push to attract private finance to exploit natural resources: copper, nickel, manganese, lithium, cobalt, and land.\n  - Promote value addition (processing and manufacturing) to increase jobs, taxes, and imports capacity.\n  - Fiscal and legal reforms to constrain future unsustainable borrowing (Parliamentary measures to “tie my hands”).\n  - Reprioritization of public spending to education and social services; end fuel subsidies to free fiscal space.\n  - Infrastructure provision (roads, power, water) to enable private large-scale agricultural investment and irrigation to mitigate El Niño risks.\n- Chad policy priorities described by Minister Nguilin:\n  - Improve business climate, increase revenue, and strengthen public financial management.\n  - Restructure debt to be countercyclical and compatible with oil price volatility.\n  - Reduce interest rates and cap amounts due in short windows to smooth payments and improve sustainability."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Climate, green finance, and agriculture",
      "content": "- Zambia:\n  - Plans to issue or facilitate green bonds discussed as part of a greener economy policy.\n  - Green bonds: private sector issuance encouraged; fiscal or tax incentives provide encouragement for issuing and buying green bonds.\n  - Agricultural strategy to mitigate potential El Niño impacts:\n    - Invest in water capture and irrigation infrastructure in the 2024 budget and prior years.\n    - Open large “farm blocks” with infrastructure to attract domestic and foreign private agricultural investment.\n- Climate framing:\n  - Ministers framed natural-resource-based value addition (minerals for decarbonization) as Africa’s contribution to climate solutions.\n  - COP28 expectations: Ministers sought opportunities for investment and emphasized focusing on opportunities (investment, land, water, power) rather than only vulnerability narratives."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Communications, follow-up, and transparency",
      "content": "- Transcripts and follow-up:\n  - IMF to make transcript available on www.imf.org and media follow-up via media@IMF.org (as stated by moderator at close).\n- Transparency and speed of multilateral processes:\n  - Note from Ministers: recognition that some multilateral processes “take too long” (President Banga of the World Bank referenced), and a desire for quicker delivery of project financing and support.\n\nTranscript: African Finance Minister's Press Conference, October 14, 2023 — IMF Communications Department\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- Chad and the IMF\n- Ghana and the IMF\n- South Africa and the IMF\n- Zambia and the IMF\n- Transcripts\n- PRESS CENTER\n- https://www.imf.org/en/home\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2023/10/14/transcript-of-press-briefing-african-finance-minister-s-press-conference"
    }
  ],
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    "Published: October 14, 2023",
    "Zambia: Agreement reached with members of the Official Creditors on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalize understanding reached with creditors in June.",
    "Chad: Restructuring undertaken under the G20 framework; described as a pari passu restructuring involving official and private creditors.",
    "Key referenced terms from coverage and questions:",
    "Commercial creditors:",
    "Zambia:",
    "Chad:",
    "Chad:",
    "Zambia:",
    "Zambia policy priorities described by Minister Musokotwane:",
    "Chad policy priorities described by Minister Nguilin:",
    "Zambia:",
    "Climate framing:",
    "Transcripts and follow-up:",
    "Transparency and speed of multilateral processes:",
    "[Chad and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/TCD/index.htm)",
    "[Ghana and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/GHA/index.htm)",
    "[South Africa and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/ZAF/index.htm)",
    "[Zambia and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/ZMB/index.htm)",
    "[Transcripts](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)",
    "[PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)",
    "[https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)"
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