GOVERNMENT says it is appealing to the IMF not to punish Zambia in an event that it does not manage to sign an MOU with its official creditors in time for the anticipated US$188 million disbursement from the fund. On Thursday last week, IMF revealed that it had reached a Staff-Level Agreement with Zambia on economic policies, to conclude the first review of the 38-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) supported programme. The IMF said that once the review of the agreement was approved, Zambia would have access to about US$188 million in financing. The IMF also concluded its three week visit to Zambia where progress on reforms and the authorities’ policy priorities in the context of the first review of...