Jorgelina do Rosario and Rachel Savage

LONDON (Reuters – China committed to joining Zambia’s creditor committee. Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of International Monetary Fund, said this on Thursday. The announcement came amid concerns from Zambia’s finance minister regarding delays in its debt restructuring.

Yi Gang from People’s Bank of China said China was interested in co-chairing the Committee, according to sources who were privy to the International Monetary and Finance Committee meeting.

In 2020, Zambia was the first country to default during a pandemic. It is now enslaved by a $32 Billion debt load. This represents 120% of its GDP.

Georgieva stated at the International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, “We were pleased to hear Governor Yi Gang… a very explicit commitment to join creditor committee on Zambia und work expeditiously towards debt resolution.”

He also stated that he was committed to restructuring the debt under the Common Framework, which the Group of 20’s leading economies (G20), launched in 2020 as a response to the coronavirus epidemic.

Situmbeko Musokotwane Zambia’s Finance Minister stated that debt restructuring had been “stalled” during public events and that the Zambian delegation had “come to complain”.

The spokesperson from the IMF said they were unable to provide more details about Yi’s speech, pointing out that Yi spoke at a closed-door meeting.

Mthuli Ncube, Zimbabwe’s finance minister, tweeted that the Chinese position “augurs well for coordination in resolving various African debt.”

Chad, Ethiopia, and Chad signed up to Common Frameworks more than one year ago. They haven’t received any debt relief.

At a conference prior to Georgieva’s, Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury Secretary, stated that China is a significant lender for many low-income countries.

I’ve reached out to China asking them to participate immediately in the meeting to discuss Zambia’s debt restructuring. China is likely to take a more constructive approach, I believe.

According to most recent Zambian government data, $5.78 Billion of Zambia’s debt was held by China and Chinese entities at 2021 end.