President Edgar Lungu’s government is seeking the suspension of debt service payments for a period of six months from holders of $3bn of its international bonds © REUTERS
President Edgar Lungu’s government said on Tuesday that it was seeking “the suspension of debt service payments for a period of six months” from holders of its $3bn worth of international bonds, beginning in October.
Zambia has asked investors in its US dollar bonds to accept delays in their interest payments into next year, in what would be the first African debt default on private creditors since the pandemic.
Zambia had already secured the temporary suspension of payments to some official creditors until the end of the year, under a special scheme for relief in the pandemic.
