The Minister of Finance Honorable Situmbeko Musokotwane MP yesterday presented to parliament a ZMW253.1 billion budget for the year 2026 which was 36% more than the ZMW217.1 billion budget of 2025. Under the theme, “Consolidating Economic and Social Gains Towards a Prosperous, Resilient and Equitable Zambia’’, the 2026 budget will be financed through 82 percent of domestic revenue with 4.8 percent being financed by grants from cooperating partners. The remaining 3,7 percent of the budget would come from both domestic and external borrowing.
The Minister also revealed the macroeconomic objectives 2026 which included the attainment of a real GDP growth rate of at least 6.4 percent, reduction in inflation to the 6-8 percent band, maintenance of of international gross reserves of above 4.0 months of import cover, increase in the domestic revenue to at least 22.3% of GDP, reduction if the fiscal deficit to not more than 2.1% of GDP and the limitation of domestic borrowing to no more than2.3% of GDP.
Specifically, the Minister allocated a ZMW851 million to the Zambia Credit Guarantee Scheme Limited which was to include guarantee funds under the Sustainable Agriculture Financing Facility (SAFF) for the 2025/2026 farming season.