The African Development Bank (AfDB) will provide Zambia 250 million U.S. dollars in direct budget support next year, state media reported on Monday.
Minister of Finance Felix Mutati said government has resumed budget support programs with the AfDB to address some bottlenecks in the energy sector.
He said the funds will be used to deal with the challenges of power transmission and for reforming the energy sector, according to the Zambia Daily Mail.
The Zambian minister said it would be difficult to attract investment into tourism and other economic sectors if the country does not address the energy deficit.
“We have 300 megawatts of electricity at Maamba (thermal-powered plant) which cannot be transmitted because the current transmission line is small. So, we are working with AfDB, getting back what was lost (direct budget support),” he is quoted as saying by the paper.
Xinhua
