LUSAKA, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's new finance minister said on Thursday that the next five years will be painful for the southern African nation in view of an impending International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package.
"We must be able to sacrifice; the journey is going to be very painful and there will be endurance. The IMF is but one option that we shall have to deal with going forward, and how we deal with that will depend on our collective wisdom," finance minister Felix Mutati told reporters after being sworn-in at State House.
Mutati, leader of one faction of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), who becomes the first opposition leader in Zambia to be handed the key portfolio of finance minister, however expressed optimism that the country will be able to pull through the difficulties that may come with the IMF bailout program.
The Finance Ministry announced in April that it would seek an aid program from the IMF that it hoped will be finalized by the end of this year. The IMF may provide a loan of up to 1.2 billion U.S. dollars or more.
The government has been told to reduce the budget deficit which widened to almost 10 percent last year.
Last month, President Edgar Lungu told a meeting of business executives that he will have to take decisive measures to grow the economy and control expenditure.
The new finance minister, 57, an accountant by profession, served as Energy and Water Development Minister from 2002 to 2004 and subsequently as the Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister from 2004 to 2011. He takes over from Alexander Chikwanda who has been finance minister since 2011.
