LUSAKA (Reuters). ZAPHANIA’S President Hakainde Hachilema thanked China Monday for its support in international efforts to help the country restructure its debt. China had committed to join Zambia’s creditor panel at International Monetary Fund meetings last Wednesday.

Kristalina Georgieva (Managing Director IMF) welcomed country’s progress on economic reform and stated that she met “excellently” with Situmbeko Mookotwane, Finance Minister of the Philippines, as well as Denny Kalyalya, Governor of central banks.

“We share the hope for rapid progress on #Zambia’s debt restructuring so the IMF Board can soon consider the authorities’ program,” Georgieva said on Twitter (NYSE:) https://twitter.com/KGeorgieva/status/1518649347189223425?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet.

When its debt load exceeded 120%, Zambia was the first to default in the pandemic-era. In December 2021, the staff level agreement was reached with the International Monetary Fund. It secured a $3.4 billion extended credit facility for three years.

Hichilema said to reporters in Lusaka, “Thanks to China for joining The Common Framework.

He stated that governments were working closely with fertiliser-producing nations to ease the rising costs of fuel and fertilizer prices. Also, they wanted to expand exports of wheat in order to benefit from higher prices.

Georgieva stated last Thursday that China had committed to join the creditor committee of Zambia. According to sources familiar with the matter, Yi Gang from People’s Bank of China stated that China wanted to be co-chair of the creditor committee.

The latest Zambian government data shows that $5.78 billion was owned by China and Chinese entities. The external debt of Zambia also includes $3B in international bonds and $2.1B to multilateral lenders such as IMF.

But, Zambian officials also voiced frustration with the whole process.

Musokotwane stated that the restructuring of debt had been “stalled”, and Zambia was “come here for complaints” at the events held on the sidelines to the IMF meeting last week.