The UK government has frozen direct financial aid to the Zambian government after concerns about widespread corruption. A Zambian government spokesman admitted to the BBC that $4.3m (£3.3m) meant for poor families had gone missing.
The government is committed to taking action but needs to wait for the final results of its four-month audit, the spokesman added. Ireland, Finland and Sweden have also suspended aid.
The freeze comes at a time when President Edgar Lungu’s government is under increasing financial pressure.
The British High Commissioner to Zambia, Fergus Cochrane-Dyet, confirmed the aid freeze in a tweet, saying that the UK government has a “zero-tolerance approach to fraud & corruption”.
