Investor Relations

Zambia aims to reach fiscal and debt sustainability to enable investment in human, social and economic development. Unsustainable debt has been choking Zambia’s growth potential and restraining the country’s development.

The New Dawn administration has put reviving economic activity by improving the business climate, fighting corruption and enhancing governance at the heart of its recovery strategy.

To achieve these ambitious goals, the Ministry is engaging in a deb t restructuring exercise and is executing the Budget 2022 which outlines key reforms and anchors their implementation.

Engaging with our creditors

The IMF Staff-Level Agreement paved the way for debt restructuring talks with Zambia’s creditors.

The formation of the Official Creditor Committee was a critical milestone to meaningful debt restructuring discussions among Zambia’s official creditors. Zambia aims to secure their financing assurances in fulfilment of the preconditions for approval of the IMF programme. Such discussions among the Official Creditor Committee will be based on the Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) that will be presented by the IMF to the Official Creditor Committee to help inform the quantum of debt relief that Zambia requires to restore sustainability of public debt.

Commercial creditors are also invited to form creditor committees to facilitate discussions with the Zambian Authorities aimed at securing comparable debt relief.

“High debt levels threaten to undo decades of progress, hinder our ability to improve healthcare and education, and ultimately delay our economic recovery. With the support of our international partners, we are confident that we are able to address our debt challenges and find mutually agreeable solutions for our country and our creditors.”

– The Honourable Minister of Finance Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane

We remain firmly committed to the following pricniples:

1. Treating all our creditors equitably
2. Entering good-faith negotiations with our creditors and seeking solutions agreeable to all parties
3. Providing maximum transparency on our debt.

To read more about our path to debt sustainability and the debt-restructuring process, visit our debt management page.

You can view and download the Ministry’s latest investor presentations here.

Presentation to Creditors

29 September 2020

A presentation to Zambia’s creditors presenting the country’s macro-fiscal situation and the need for liquidity relief to restore debt sustainability.

Honourable Minister’s Presentation to Creditors

November 2021

A presentation by the Honourable Minister of Finance to Zambia’s creditors on macroeconomic updates and objectives, Zambia’s economic reform agenda and updates on the debt restructuring process.

Introductory Presentation to Bilateral Creditors

15 December 2021

An introductory presentation presented by the Honourable Minister of Finance to Zambia’s bilateral creditors on Zambia’s economic reform agenda, public debt stock and next steps for the debt restructuring exercise.

1. Does the Zambian sovereign see its borrower profile as evolving in the medium term, i.e., its funding sources (bond market, multilateral, concessional, bilateral funding sources, others)?

Response: Zambia will rely mainly on concessional or quasi-concessional bilateral and multilateral financing over the medium-term particularly for social sectors such as health and education. Non-concessional financing may be utilized on a case by case basis for a limited number of priority projects mainly in the area of infrastructure and other economically viable sectors.

Additionally, as we progress in our discussions with our creditors, in particular in the context of debt restructuring, the Government of Zambia stands ready to commit to fiscal adjustment measures including a ceiling on accumulation of non-concessional external financing.

2. What specific revenue measures will be undertaken to regain fiscal space?

Response:  Along with the 2022 Budget, Parliament has approved an accompanying legislative package which stipulates several revenue measures to regain fiscal space by making the tax system more efficient and eliminating inefficiencies in spending. You can find more detail in our budget here.

We are also working on the following:

1. We are developing a comprehensive public finance management strategy to ensure prudent spending at all levels.
2. We are improving oversight of borrowing and assessment of projects under a new Loans and Guarantee Act. The new Loans, Grants and Guarantees Bill will, among others, propose to enhance transparency in public debt management, including loan contraction, and provide a framework for evaluation, issuance, and monitoring of public guarantees.

3. Can you provide us with a comprehensive update on any debt negotiations being discussed with China and expected timing?

Response:  The People’s Republic of China have agreed to co-chair the Official Creditors Committee for Zambia’s debt restructuring and confirmed their willingness to support Zambia in resolving the country’s debt situation. Further engagement with China on resolving the debt issue will proceed under the G20 Common Framework to ensure equitable treatment of all creditors.

Please update us on the discussions on any progress or potential debt reprofiling with any non-China/Eurobond commercial lenders.

In order to alleviate the short-term liquidity pressure that we are facing, we have decided to pursue an immediate debt service suspension strategy leveraging on the G20 DSSI and are requesting all our commercial creditors to participate voluntarily on similar terms.

While all such requests were made at a similar time and on similar terms to all our non-Chinese/non-Eurobond creditors, progress on these discussions varies among them. Some creditors are yet to respond to our request while discussions are still ongoing with others. We have already reached agreements in principle with a few commercial creditors and we anticipate receiving further positive responses from creditors who have accepted to discuss / negotiate in good faith.

The Government is confident that its creditors will support it in this debt

suspension initiative to provide it the fiscal space it needs to chart a path to debt sustainability and avoid accruing further arrears.

4. Is your priority to reduce overall debt via principal cuts, or is your priority to spread out debt servicing over the coming years with minimal hit to overall NPV? Would you incorporate a value recovery mechanism tied to copper prices as part of the restructuring?

Response: It is still too early to comment on specific aspects of the debt management strategy as it will be developed and implemented once the debt restructuring exercise is completed.

5. Is the Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) a public document?

Response:  No. The DSA has been finalised in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. It will be presented to the official creditors to determine the quantum of relief they are willing to provide. As part of its commitment to debt transparency, Zambia has requested that the DSA is also shared with commercial creditors in parallel. 

Debt reports, state of economy update, macroeconomic forecast, highlights of the budget, annual summaries on reforms and financial and economic performance, credit ratings (all integrated with other sections of the website, so as to provide access to the same document from multiple locations)

POSTAL ADDRESS: Ministry of Finance, P.O. Box 50062
Chimanga Road, LUSAKA

PHONE: +260211253512 or +260 211 251007