Zambian President says China and India signed debt-revamp deal

On February 25, 2024, 2:00 AM

China and India, the last two nations needed to sign a deal to restructure Zambia’s debt, have finally done so, President Hakainde Hichilema said Saturday.

“We’re getting there,” he said on Zambian state-owned television. “Now we are turning our attention to the private creditors that we hope to be able to put to bed soon.”

Zambia reached a memorandum of understanding with official creditors to restructure $6.3 billion of debt in October. The government is in talks with other creditors, including the holders of $3 billion in outstanding eurobonds.

The discussions have been deadlocked since November, when the Official Creditors Committee — co-chaired by France and China — rejected a deal in principle the administration reached with those investors.

The southern African nation signed up to use the so-called Common Framework to restructure its debts three years ago, after defaulting in November 2020.