Lusaka – A high-level IMF team will meet with Zambian officials this week as the southern African country seeks to restructure its crushing debt load, the Finance Ministry said on Monday.
Zambia in December won a $1.4-billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund, but is seeking a broader meeting with creditors to unlock the funding and to restructure its $17.3 billion debt burden.
IMF deputy managing director Antoinette Monsio Sayeh will arrive Tuesday on a two-day visit to meet President Hakainde Hichilema, as well as the finance minister, the central bank governor, and other senior officials, the ministry said in a statement.
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“The high level talks between the IMF and the government will focus on recent economic developments, the effects of global economic developments such as high oil prices and fertiliser prices on the Zambian economy and discuss progress made on debt restructuring — an important step towards a formal programme with the IMF,” read the statement.
Senior IMF officials were also set to accompany Sayeh.
Previous governments had failed to unlock bailouts in tough talks with creditors and in 2020, Zambia became Africa’s first country to default during the Covid pandemic.
But since Hichilema’s election last year, he has made progress in restoring relations with donors.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Getty Images
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