Zambia seeks debt relief from Russia, Iraq - finmin

(Reuters) - Zambia is seeking $600 million in debt relief from Russia, Iraq and other creditor countries that were not part of global debt relief plans agreed with the world's poorest nations in 2006, Finance Minister Ng'andu Magande said on Wednesday.

Magande said Zambia had written to Russia, Iraq, Bulgaria, Brazil and others asking them to cancel a total of $600 million in debt.


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Zambia says flooding cuts 2007 maize output

(Reuters) - Floods have cut Zambia's white maize output for the 2006/07 crop season to 1.36 million tonnes from 1.42 million the previous year, a fall of 4.4 percent, Agriculture Minister Ben Kapita said.

"(Zambia's) total maize production has been established to be 1,366,158 tonnes in comparison to production of 1,424,439 tonnes achieved last year," Kapita said in a statement on Thursday.


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Zambia to avoid non-concessionary loans - finmin

(Reuters) - Zambia has been promised $670 million by government and international donors in 2007 but will avoid loans that do not offer concessionary interest rates to keep its debt burden manageable, its finance minister has said.

The southern African country has only $500 million in outstanding debt after the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and western creditors wrote off a large part of it last year.


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