IRIN is part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, but its news service is editorially independent. Its reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations and its various agencies. The following is from IRINs Latest news from Southern Africa section:
Earlier this month China wrote off US$211 million owed by Zambia, as part of President Hu Jintao’s three-year aid package to Africa. China has pledged $3 billion in preferential loans and $2 billion in preferential credits over the next three years, and has set up a China-Africa development fund that will grow to $5 billion.
The aid package includes the cancellation of all interest-free government loans that matured at the end of 2005 for least developed countries with diplomatic relations with China. The package also provides for the establishment of five economic zones, including one in Zambia.
The spinoffs for Zambia, with a population of about 10 million and only about 400,000 formal-sector jobs, would be enormous.
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