Creditors hope to propose a debt restructuring plan for Zambia this week, a source within the Paris Club of official creditors said Monday, after months of hold-up.
The United States has accused Zambia’s biggest creditor China — which according to financial researchers is owed $6.6 billion — of dragging its feet.
The African nation in 2020 became the first on the continent to default on its foreign debt — estimated at $17.3 billion — since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Zambia has since sought help to restructure its debt through a G20 mechanism, which is co-chaired by Paris and Beijing, but implementation has been slow.
The Paris Club is an informal group of official creditors whose role is to find solutions to countries’ difficulties in repaying their debt.
The group will meet Wednesday, a day before an international summit also in the French capital, which aims to find ways to reform global financing for a new era shaped by climate change.
“I think we have done our work at a technical level, now it’s a question of ironing out the last details and being ready to make an offer to Zambia,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
“We are hopeful we can make an announcement during the summit,” the source added.
“The president of Zambia will be there, the prime minister of China will be there, numbers of creditors from the Paris Club will be there, so hopefully we can be in a position to offer a debt treatment to Zambia.”
“We are close to the finish line,” the source said.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema told AFP in an interview last month that the debt is “like a python around our necks, ribs and legs”.
In April, International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva said that she had been given fresh assurances during a trip to Beijing that China supported a debt restructuring programme for Zambia.
Negotiations on restructuring Zambia’s debt — a key step towards unblocking the IMF’s aid plan for the country — have been under way for two years.
“The United States has accused Zambia’s biggest creditor China — which according to financial researchers is owed $6.6 billion — of dragging its feet.”
This is what we are talking about Hakainde is busy being used by US as it errand boy to play this proxy war against Beijing. If at all Hakainde was serious about negotiating with Zambia’s biggest creditors he would have flown there today or in his first week in office but he only sees the muzungus as his saviours. He would be very proud to be called a US Special Envoy.
But you are the same one always complaining about the
” chinks”
taking over every thing in Zambia ????
The fact is we owe them alot of money and we need to show them respect by the Head of State visiting China. As I said before PF administration was borrowing using GRZ.
Tarino
“….. restructure its debt through a G20 mechanism, which is co-chaired by Paris and Beijing.”
We all know that China has been part of the debt discussion……., the debt plan will be signed shortly anyway……so what are you crying about HH visiting China?
We have informed these PF cadres who you started supporting lately, that this restructuring is not just for Zambia, but includes at least 6 other countries (Srilanka, Pakistan…..etc). Therefore, a lone visit by HH wouldn’t have made any difference
Next trip for hh should be on a submersible to view the titanic wreckage. Can his team look into organising
Forwardee 2031……..
Why cant we talk about ECL who had zero skills in negotiations
It’s news opposition politicians do not want to hear. They will pretend that they want debt forgiveness for Zambia.
You can depend on China to block the process. The chickens are still coming to roost.
Kaleya Mateo continues. We still are at the proposal level? Zambia should have been looking at ways to repay this debt. Restructuring still means we have to pay. Come back home and go to Copperbelt and Northwestern province. That is where God buried our money many years ago. All we need to do is take control of mining and use the proceeds to service the debt. These white people will just trap us some more deeper in debt so that they can propose more measures to mine in Zambia for free.
The Muzungu masters know our weakness…we like begging and being inslaved……HH in opposition used to sound very interesting it turns out he was just blowing hot air