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Zambia expects debt negotiations to finish by end of June -minister -Breaking

by Mike Robinson

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO. President of Zambia, Hakainde Haichilema, presents the national statement at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (Scotland), UK, November 1, 2021. Andy Buchanan/Pool via REUTERS

(Refiles to insert interview with Reuters at para 2)

CAPE TOWN (Reuters). Zambian President Hakainde Hachima declared Monday that Zambia aims to avoid another default. Zambia’s finance minister also stated that debt negotiations must be concluded by June.

Hichilema, speaking to Reuters at the Mining Indaba conference held in Cape Town said that they borrowed far too much. It is now one of their priorities to restructure debt.

Reuters was told by Situmbeko Musokotwane, Finance Minister, that talks on debt should be concluded in June.

Zambia, Africa’s 2nd-largest producer, defaulted in the 2020 pandemic. The country is now facing debt levels of 120% of its GDP. Official government data shows that the country’s total debt at 2021 ended up at $31.74 billion, with $17.27 million of external debt.

(This article refiles to include interview with Reuters at paragraph 2.

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