Zambia targets investment at IMF-World Bank meetings in Thailand

ZAMBIA is seeking to mobilize development financing and attract investment at the 2026 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group that opened this week in Bangkok, officials said.

Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane is leading Zambia’s delegation to the meetings, which run Oct. 12-18 and have drawn more than 15,000 delegates including finance ministers, central bank governors and investors.

Musokotwane arrived Sunday at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, where he briefly met World Bank Group President Ajay Banga and Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas. He was received by Zambia’s ambassador to Malaysia, who is accredited to Thailand, Malcom Mumba.

Zambia enters the meetings days after reaching a staff-level agreement with the IMF on Oct. 9 on a proposed 36-month, $1.47 billion extended credit facility, and after a World Bank-supported Lobito Corridor coordination meeting held Oct. 5-6 in Lusaka.

The IMF arrangement, equivalent to SDR 1.076 billion, remains subject to IMF management and executive board approval and implementation of prior actions. It is intended to reinforce economic stability, strengthen fiscal and debt sustainability and support more inclusive, private-sector-led growth.

The Zambian delegation includes Secretary to the Treasury Felix Nkulukusa, Bank of Zambia Gov. Denny Kalyalya, Energy Permanent Secretary Arnold Simwaba and Mines Permanent Secretary Hapenga Kabeta.

The delegation’s program includes the International Monetary and Financial Committee plenary, consultations with the IMF’s African and Fiscal Affairs departments and meetings with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

Discussions will also address sovereign debt vulnerabilities, borrowing costs, domestic revenue mobilization and reforms to the international financial architecture.

On the World Bank side, engagements will focus on infrastructure, energy security, private capital mobilization and job creation. The program includes the Development Committee meeting, consultations with Banga and regional leadership and the International Development Association Forum.

Zambia will seek to build on the recent Lobito Corridor meeting involving Zambia, Angola and Congo, which aims to strengthen regional transport and energy connectivity and expand trade and investment in mining, agriculture and manufacturing.

The delegation will also meet with the U.S. Treasury, the Borrowers Platform Governing Council and development partners, as well as hold talks with Africa50 on financing for the Angola-Zambia electricity transmission interconnector, domestic power transmission, roads, border infrastructure and the Kazungula Bridge corridor.

Separate meetings are scheduled with Standard Bank, Standard Chartered, Citi, J.P. Morgan and other investors on Zambia’s economic outlook and investment opportunities, the Treasury said.

The government said the engagements are aligned with President Hakainde Hichilema’s Grow Zambia agenda, outlined in his Oct. 9 address to Parliament, which prioritizes increased production, investment, exports, employment and household incomes.

(Mwebantu, Monday, 12th October, 2026)