Zambia unlocked the final tranche of a $1.7 billion IMF program, underscoring huge progress by the southern African nation. The country had been the first African nation to default on its borrowing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is restructuring loans worth some $13 billion — including debts to Chinese creditors which make up its biggest obligations.
Zambia’s program was approved in 2022, two years after a sovereign debt default imposed economic strains whose effects have not fully gone away. The IMF said that while Lusaka’s performance since then was “broadly satisfactory,” the country “remains at high risk of overall and external debt distress.”
A number of other African nations including Gabon and Mozambique have also recently lowered their risks of debt distress, but others like Senegal remain on edge.
