The Zambian regime has picked a french company called Lizard Freres to advise it on its unsustainable debt.
Government hopes to defer up-to $3.1billion debt repayment that may be due between 2022 and 2025, to a future payment date.
In simple language, this Lizard company of France will be paid $5 million for simply asking Zambia’s creditors to postpone demanding their money. So many Zambians can to that simple job for K1 million. And when this debt repayment is postponed, it will attract interest.
In a notice to other prospecting bidders, which included included ABSA Bank and Rothschild&Co, White Oak Advisory Ltd, Potomac, and Deutch Bank and Barclays Bank, Ministry of Finance announced that the successful bidder was Lizard for the advisory services at a contracted amount of $5million.
Zambia is seeking to restructure its debt after years of “over-ambition” in borrowing to plug an infrastructure deficit, Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu announced.
Zambia has a foreign debt of $11.2billion which includes $3billion drawn from Eurobonds and Chinese loans obtained under project and infrastructure financing.