Zambia’s creditors aim to make debt relief proposal this week- source
PARIS, June 19 (Reuters) – Zambia’s government creditors expect to be in a position to make a debt restructuring proposal to the country by the time of a financial summit in Paris this week, a Paris Club source said on Monday.
The southern African nation defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2020 and has since struggled to agree a relief deal with external creditors, with many western officials accusing China, its largest bilateral creditor, of dragging its feet.
“Hopefully we can be in a position to offer a debt treatment to Zambia. We have done our work at the technical level so now it is a question of ironing out the last details,” the source said.
France is hosting dozens of leaders from around the world on Thursday and Friday – including Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema – for a summit about how to ease the debt burden on the most vulnerable countries while freeing up billions of dollars in new funds for climate finance. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas Editing by Dominique Vidalon and Peter Graff)