Hichilema courts the Fund: the IMF mission chief is in Lusaka for a successor programme — and the President is selling Grow Zambia as the framework

The first programme ended in January; the courtship for the second is now in the State House diary. President Hichilema on Wednesday met the International Monetary Fund's mission chief for Zambia, Edward Gemayel, and his team, who are in the country to discuss a successor economic programme. “Our previous programme with the IMF was successfully concluded in January 2026,” the President said in a statement after the meeting, adding that he had reiterated that growth is critical to the economy: “A new programme with the IMF is complementary to our Grow Zambia Agenda, and we called on the Fund to support it.”

The programme that closed was the 38-month, US$1.3 billion Extended Credit Facility, completed on 27 January after six reviews and roughly US$1.7 billion in disbursements — the arrangement under which Zambia restructured its defaulted debt and rebuilt reserves. What replaces it is being designed around the agenda the President took to the 14th Assembly on Friday: the Daily Mail reports the Grow Zambia Agenda as seeking to generate US$65 billion in annual monetary value, and the Government has said it wants a successor arrangement that builds on restored stability while accelerating investment, exports, diversification and jobs. Officials have said they aim to agree the new programme by the end of this year.

The Fund will arrive at that table with its own homework. Its March mission praised the debt restructuring, stronger reserves and inflation back inside the Bank of Zambia's target band, but flagged early signs of fiscal slippage — wage costs, agricultural support and election-related spending — and projected growth of 5.5 percent for 2026 after a weaker 2025. Those pressures have not vanished with the election; some have matured. Yesterday's restoration of the fuel excise duty reads, in part, like an answer to one of them.

The meeting also doubled as a handover. The President bade farewell to the outgoing resident representative, Eric Lautier, thanking him for his service, and welcomed his successor, Reginald Darius, who takes up the Lusaka post as the negotiations move from courtesy to text. The IMF, Mr Hichilema said, “remains a key partner in our development agenda” — a sentence both men know will be tested clause by clause in the coming weeks.

Sources: Mwebantu, “President Hichilema Meets IMF Team Over Successor Economic Programme” (8 Oct 2026); Zambia Daily Mail, “HH courts IMF on Grow Zambia Agenda” (8 Oct 2026); IMF statements on the concluded ECF and the March 2026 staff mission, via TRT Afrika and Channel Africa (March 2026); Rio Times, “Zambia Explained” (Sept 2026).