Zambia Delays Projects to Cut Debt and Woo IMF Back to Talks
- Finance Minister Mwanakatwe seeks to renegotiate Chinese loans
- Government seeks to keep budget gap less than 9% of GDP
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Zambia is shelving projects that aren’t almost complete and will renegotiate loans as it seeks to contain ballooning debt and entice the International Monetary Fund to restart talks on a support package.
The IMF has warned the southern African nation is at high risk of debt distress, while investors have grown skeptical about the amount of external loans the country claims it has incurred, saying it may be significantly more than the $9.3 billion announced. Eurobonds of Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest copper producer, have been the worst performers this year.