Zambia’s ‘Unknown’ Debts Face Scrutiny Reports Bloomberg

Bloomberg yesterday reported the concerns of lenders regarding Zambia’s foreign-debt levels, stating that ‘Lenders including Nomura Holdings Inc. believe the state hasn’t come completely clean on how much external borrowing it’s undertaken’.

The articles quotes Nomura International’s Head of emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa Economics Peter Attard Montalto as saying: “Zambia is in somewhat of a serious predicament of having politically connected additional ‘unknown’ loans… The hidden-loan problem, in our view, is likely one of short-term external debt that is at least as big as known external loans and external bonds combined.”

The analysis follows a media briefing given by the recently appointed Minister of Finance Margaret Mwanakatwe, in which she said her department is undertaking a detailed debt-sustainability exercise. The figures she gave at the briefing, varied to those previously given by her predecessor Felix Mutati.

You can read the original Bloomberg piece here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-06/zambia-s-unknown-debts-face-scrutiny-after-mozambique-scandal

The full report of the Minister of Finance’s status of the Zambia economy in the first quarter is available on Lusaka Times at: https://www.lusakatimes.com/2018/04/07/minister-of-finances-full-report-on-the-status-of-zambias-economy-in-the-first-quarter/