Foreign
ZAMBIA’s finance minister rejected a call from China for the World Bank and other multilateral lenders to join a restructuring of the country’s debt.
The Financial Times reported on Monday saying that delays are holding up the economy.
In an interview with the newspaper, Situmbeko Musokotwane said that “time is of the essence” to finish a restructuring of about 13 billion dollars of external debt this year and signalled that China’s demand was a distraction from talks for reducing the loans.
“Discussions at higher levels like those just make our situation worse, because what we are looking for is urgent solutions, not discussions that may drag out the matter,” the report quoted Musokotwane as saying.
“China has always attached great importance to the Zambian debt issue,” Wang Wenbin, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, told a regular press briefing in Beijing.
“Under the common framework of the Group of 20, it has played a constructive role in dealing with Zambia’s debt,” he added.
The People’s Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance both did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Zambia became the first African country to default in the COVID-19 era in 2020, but the restructuring of its external debts of almost 15 billion dollars with creditors, including China and Eurobond holders, has been greatly delayed.
Government data showed Zambia owed Chinese creditors nearly 6 billion dollars of the total of 17 billion dollars external debt at the end of 2021.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other Group of Seven have grown increasingly frustrated about what they see as foot-dragging by China in moving forward on debt rescheduling for countries seeking help.
China argues that multilateral institutions should also be required to accept reductions in the debt they are owed. (NAN)
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