The Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR) is still hopeful that Zambia will conclude its debt restructuring process within the targeted period.
Zambia became the first African sovereign to default in 2020 and has struggled to finish a much-delayed restructuring of debts that reached unsustainable levels and International Monetary Fund-IMF- Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva who recently visited the country said the Zambian government has done its part and urged creditors to move forward and reach an agreement on a debt treatment as soon as possible.
In an interview with Phoenix News, ZIPAR Executive Director Dr Herrick Mpuku states that one of the hiccups on the debt restructuring process could be the private commercial lenders who account for a significant percentage of the total debt.
Dr Mpuku explains that since the conditions of the private creditors may differ from those of the bilateral creditors, with this multiplicity of lenders, it makes the deal complex and difficult to come to some agreement.
He adds that since government has made tremendous progress in as far as putting in the right policies and stabilizing the macroeconomic fundamentals is concerned, debt restructuring will give more headroom for economic recovery once resolved.
