By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Zambia informs London Stock Exchange, Debt Reschedule with bondholders cannot be implemented
The Government of the Republic of Zambia announces that a restructuring agreement with its Eurobond holders cannot be implemented at this time
The Government of the Republic of Zambia (the “Government”) announces today that, following the agreement in principle (“AIP”) reached with the Steering Committee of the Ad Hoc Group of Bondholders (the “S teering Committee”) on 26h October, the authorities and their advisors conducted consultations with the country’s Official Creditor Committee (the “OcC) and the staff of the International Monetary Fund (the “IMF Staff).
The 0CC, through its Co-chairs, concluded that Comparability of Treatment would not be achieved in the Base Case scenario, although would be achieved in the Upside Case scenario.
The OCC stated that the AIP, despite similar present value concessions to the deal agreed between the Government and the OCC, was not in compliance with the Comparability of Treatment in the Base Case scenario due to a shorter extension of the duration and lower contribution to the closing of the balance of payment financing gap during the IMF program period. The fact that bondholders have agreed to nominal face value concessions (“haircut”), while the OCC members have not, is not considered a mitigating factor since the haircut is not part of the criteria listed in the G-20 Common Framework to assess Comparability of Treatment.
In addition, the IMF Staff assessment showed that the AIP with bondholders would breach the DSA targets.
The debt service-to-revenues ratio would reach 16.7 percent in 2025, 2.7 percentage points higher than the 14 percent target, while the present value of the debt stock-to-exports ratio would be marginally breached (by 1 percentage point), at 85 percent in 2027.
In light of these reservations, the Government and the Steering Committee continued their engagement over the past week and discussed possible amendments to the AIP.
During these discussions, the Steering Committee made a revised proposal attached hereto as Annex A (the “Revised Proposal”), which the Government has duly consid er ed.
The Government views the Revised Proposal as compatible with the objective of restoring debt sustainability and with the principle of Comparability of Treatment.
In parallel, the authorities and their advisors also engaged with the IMF Staff and the 0CC Secretariat.
The IMF Staff advised the Government that the Revised Proposal, if implemented, would be compatible with the IMF program parameters and debt sustainab ility targets.After being notified of the outcome of the consultations with the OCC, the Steering Committee confirmed that any additional concession on their part was not possible. In the Steering Committee’s view, the Revised Proposal met the IMF program parameters and the debt sustainability targets and met the Comparability of Treatment criteria as it already delivered a present value effort higher than the OCC by 2 percentage points in the Base Case and 6 percentage points in the Upside Case.1
Notwithstanding a comprehensive agreement on the Revised Proposal between the Government and the Steering Committee, as well as an agreement with the IMF Staff in relation to the program parameters and debt sustainability targets, the Government currently does not have the support of the OCC and is unable to move forward at this time with the implementation of the restructuring with the Bondhold ers.
The Government regrets that discussions with bondholders have not yet yielded an agreement that could be supported by all of its stalkeholders.
The Government is committed to continuing its efforts to find a satisfactory solution that avoids further costly delays in completing the country’s debt restructuring.
In this context, the Government intends to continue discussions in good faith with all relevant parties on how it can reach a successful and comprehensive debt restructuring.
This announcement is made by the Government of the Republic of Zambia and constitutes a public disclosure ofinside information under Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (16 April 2014).
ANNEX A: REVISED PROPOSAL
Uko. Ingombe yapena.
So mwamba is celebrating what ever hurdles government is experiencing as regards the restructuring of the zambian debt which his stupid party accrued!!
So all he cares about is the failure of the economy so that maybe zambian voters can return them to power to borrow and loot more??
He thinks zambian people are idiots!!
Better vote for muliokela even if UPND fails than fi PF.
Get lost
I am afraid that is what might happen. PF can not be voted for.
Remember we voted for Hakainde because PF were that bad. We might vote for another nobody just to get rid of Hakainde. Let him go back to his farms and rest. He has struggled.
But we surely can’tvote for PF and that dog from Chawama. They brought this mess.
@2.8 lies for the 2.8 let’s be civil in our discourse, there’s absolutely no need in using offensive language. Surely we can disagree whilst being polite to each other. What exactly do you mean by yapena ingombe? Why is it that PF supporters are hurting so much like they are the only party to have ever lost power sincel independence? UNIP lost power and were magnanimous, MMD lost power and they were gracious even in defeat. Why is it so difficult, so painful even after 2 years they can’t heal and move on? Please PF losing power is not the end of the world. Accept and move on.
Dollar going up to K30.
Has Mr Mwamba the official government spokesperson
Or is he celebrating then whats the motive behind the celebration ? Does he think if this fails then zambians will turn against the government does he think that us zambians don’t know that uts his party which brought us to this
My advise to Mr Mwamba is that please grow up not everything should be politicized this is the time for unit as a country so us to create a better future
Why does this man always salivates at his mouth and gets excited to release any sort of negative news affecting our country, and he seems to relish being the first one to unleash such bad news on the Populace? Since when did he become Governmant Spokesman? What is the Agenda? Is it to simply excite the Citizens negatively, or a psychological morbid mistrust that Government will not inform us of the so called “bad news”?
Bally will fix it
Just time is needed, remember where we are coming from… PF
This is bad news for citizens. Cost of living will have to go up even further, and taxes will go up.
There is no other way out of this.
I am not sure voters will accept this punishment.
This is a lesson to aspiring presidential candidates not to tell lies about what they will achieve when elected. A little honesty goes a long way. As does decency.
Of Quinine/Panado and Headache. Let us forgive but never forget who caused us this excruciating Migraine Headache!!!
ECL’s PF claims that the economy did better in it’s reign, but:
1. Retirees were never paid
2. Teachers were never employed, those who were employed were not on payroll
3. Health personnel were never employed
4. Social cash transfer was not enough and the little allocated was stolen by those administering it
5. Farmers were not paid on time for their produce sold to FRA, some were still owed by govt for 2020 sales by August 2021.
6.Military and security personnel were secretly employed.
Under the new dawn all the above and many other things have been achieved transparently and yet the economy is not doing fine. Dear let us hold on, we’re in better hands.