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Zambia’s Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said that the Southern African country was working hard with creditors, including China, to evolve a consensus on debt restructuring in the coming days
Zambia’s Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said that the Southern African country was working hard with creditors, including China, to evolve a consensus on debt restructuring in the coming days. Importantly China, Zambia’s largest bilateral creditor, was engaged in the debt restructuring. Discussions between the two countries are taking place very regularly to hammer a consensus.
Zambia’s external debt stood at US$14.87 billion at the end of June 2022. The country has also defaulted on the sovereign repayment of debt. According to available data, China accounted for almost US$6 billion of debt at the end of 2021.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/china-urged-the-world-bank-for-debt-relief-to-zambia/
https://trendsnafrica.com/imf-chief-reiterates-help-to-rescue-zambia-from-deep-debts/
Incidentally, Zambia was the first African country to default on its sovereign debt. This happened in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The restructuring of its external debts to creditors including China and Eurobond holders has been greatly delayed. The country has reached an agreement with multilateral lenders for soft loans for immediate relief from the debt trap. But there are conditions imposed by them (lenders) like drastic cuts in subsidies, increasing the role of the private sector etc, privatisation of public undertakings to ensure greater efficiency and accountability etc. These far-reaching reforms, the state administration apprehends, will have their political fallouts.
