Zambia has agreed a revised deal to restructure nearly $4bn in US dollar bonds with private investors, moving the bankrupt southern Africa nation closer to exiting a years-long default after months of tensions between China and other creditors.Africa’s second-biggest copper producer and the bondholders said an agreement announced on Monday would provide more debt relief than a deal which China, the country’s single biggest creditor, rejected in November as appearing to favour private investors.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said in a post on X that “history has been made” with the new deal.
Hichilema’s government signalled that China and the country’s other official creditors were happy with the latest bondholder deal, after delays that made Zambia a symbol of the failure of a G20 initiative for faster solutions to debt crises in poor countries.