Zambia expects debt negotiations to finish by end of June -minister
2022.05.09 13:01
FILE PHOTO: Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema presents his national statement as a part of the World Leaders’ Summit at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain November 1, 2021. Andy Buchanan/Pool via REUTERS
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema said on Monday that the country aims to avoid another debt default and its finance minister said the country’s debt negotiations should be completed by the end of June.
“We borrowed way too much, it is one of our priorities to restructure our debt,” Hichilema said during a speech to the Indaba mining conference in Cape Town.
Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane told Reuters in an interview that debt talks should end in June.
Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest copper producer, became the first pandemic-era sovereign default in 2020, struggling with debt that has reached 120% of GDP. Its debt was $31.74 billion at the end of 2021, according to official government data – of which $17.27 billion is external debt.
