Zambia to pay 1% interest after ‘mission impossible’ debt deal

Hakainde Hichilema, Zambia's president, during a Bloomberg Television interview in Paris, France, on Friday, June 23, 2023. Zambia reached an agreement in principle to restructure $6.3 billion of bilateral debt even though the accord didn’t meet all the government’s targets, according to Hichilema. Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg

LONDON: Zambia will pay interest rates of as low as 1% until 2037 as part of its debt restructuring deal secured with nations including China this week, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The southern African country will push out maturities on US$6.3bil (RM29.5bil) in bilateral debt to 2043, representing an average extension of more than 12 years.