{"id":33252,"date":"2022-10-26T22:19:10","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T22:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/musokotwane-eager-to-renegotiate-debt-awaits-chinas-team-2"},"modified":"2022-10-26T22:38:58","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T22:38:58","slug":"musokotwane-eager-to-renegotiate-debt-awaits-chinas-team-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/musokotwane-eager-to-renegotiate-debt-awaits-chinas-team-2","title":{"rendered":"Musokotwane eager to renegotiate debt, awaits China\u2019s team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>Zambia\u2019s finance minister said on Saturday it is still unclear who will be leading talks for renegotiating its nearly $6 billion debt with China, the largest bilateral creditor of the first African sovereign default in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.<\/p>\n

China co-chairs a committee of official bilateral creditors with France as part of a debt restructuring that Zambia is seeking under the Group of 20\u2019s Common Framework, a platform for highly indebted countries to rework their debt with bilateral creditors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is up to the Chinese authorities to choose who they want to represent them,\u201d Situmbeko Musokotwane said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know at this particular moment,\u201d he said, when asked who represents China on the official creditors committee.<\/p>\n

Western countries this week ratcheted up their criticism of China, the world\u2019s largest bilateral creditor, as the main obstacle to moving ahead with debt restructuring agreements for the growing number of countries unable to service their debts.<\/p>\n

At the end of 2021, China held about a third of Zambia\u2019s $17.27 billion international debt, according to Zambian government data. Since then, Zambia has cancelled $2 billion in undisbursed loans, many from Chinese lenders.<\/p>\n

Musokotwane said negotiating with bilateral creditors including China before private creditors had \u201cworked fairly well\u201d, but acknowledged there had been complaints from international investors who hold the country\u2019s sovereign bonds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt cannot be plain sailing because people approach it from different perspectives,\u201d he added. Zambia secured a three-year $1.3 billion loan from the IMF in September.<\/p>\n

It is now seeking a present value $6.3 billion debt reduction, or 49% of the external debt being restructured. Some bondholders had previously said a 45% cut would be unacceptable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no point of pretending that there is something that is better, when doing so means that you leave Zambia still with an unsustainable debt situation,\u201d Musokotwane said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it means we will conclude today, then a month later or three months later, we default again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zambian grain exports could help to address shortages caused by Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, Musokotwane said, adding that the government was hoping to host an overseas agriculture investors forum in the middle of 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are making preparations for investors not just in Zambia, but from outside to take advantage of the land resources that we have, to come and produce food to export,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The country is ready to open up to 100,000 hectares for this investment plan, and will start using a $300 million World Bank approved loan to improve roads, electricity and dams to attract overseas investors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree or four\u201d companies have expressed interest in acquiring Mopani copper mine, he said, including South Africa\u2019s Sibanye Stillwater, adding the interest was \u201cwhat gives me the confidence that by the end of this year probably we should have a solution\u201d.<\/p>\n

A proposal for the government to have \u201cgolden shares\u201d in mining companies would enable it to veto any investors known to not be credible, he said. The government is assuming an average copper price of $7,500 per tonne in 2023, with growing demand thanks to green technologies likely to support prices, Musokotwane said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. Zambia\u2019s finance minister said on Saturday it is still unclear who will be leading talks for renegotiating its nearly $6 billion debt with China, the largest bilateral creditor of the first African sovereign default in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. China co-chairs a committee of official bilateral creditors with France as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":33251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[234,235,233],"class_list":["post-33252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nMusokotwane eager to renegotiate debt, awaits China\u2019s team - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Zambia\u2019s finance minister said on Saturday it is still unclear who will be leading talks for renegotiating its nearly $6 ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/musokotwane-eager-to-renegotiate-debt-awaits-chinas-team-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Musokotwane eager to renegotiate debt, awaits China\u2019s team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zambia\u2019s finance minister said on Saturday it is still unclear who will be leading talks for renegotiating its nearly $6 ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/musokotwane-eager-to-renegotiate-debt-awaits-chinas-team-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-26T22:19:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-26T22:38:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_13-6359b6ec53aee.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"534\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/musokotwane-eager-to-renegotiate-debt-awaits-chinas-team-2#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/musokotwane-eager-to-renegotiate-debt-awaits-chinas-team-2\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Musokotwane eager to renegotiate debt, awaits China\u2019s team\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-26T22:19:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-26T22:38:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/musokotwane-eager-to-renegotiate-debt-awaits-chinas-team-2\"},\"wordCount\":552,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/musokotwane-eager-to-renegotiate-debt-awaits-chinas-team-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_13-6359b6ec53aee.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zambia\",\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/musokotwane-eager-to-renegotiate-debt-awaits-chinas-team-2#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/musokotwane-eager-to-renegotiate-debt-awaits-chinas-team-2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/musokotwane-eager-to-renegotiate-debt-awaits-chinas-team-2\",\"name\":\"Musokotwane eager to renegotiate debt, awaits China\u2019s team - 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