Lusaka (Zambia), September 8: The Zambian government said Wednesday that it was engaging its bondholders on the deferment of Eurobond payments in view of the debt restructuring process.
Mukuli Chikuba, the permanent secretary in Charge of Budget and Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, said the government will not make any payment for the first Eurobond of 750 million U.S. dollars due this month.
In remarks delivered during an engagement with journalists on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, the official said the payments will not be made until new terms are agreed between the government and the bondholders.
The government was intending to re-engage the bondholders to ensure that the payment dates are deferred until the country's debt restructuring process was concluded he said.
According to him, the government wanted to ensure that every creditor was treated in the same manner.
Zambia issued three Eurobonds between 2012 and 2015, with the first bond of 750 million U.S. dollars in 2012, the second of 1 billion dollars in 2014 and the third of 1.25 billion dollars in 2015.
The first Eurobond was due for payment in September 2022 when it will mature while the government was scheduled to settle the second bond in 2024 and the third bond in 2025.
The IMF last week approved a new extended credit facility arrangement for Zambia totaling 1.3 billion dollars which paves the way for the southern African nation to engage individual creditors on its debt restructuring program aimed at tackling the country's debt crisis.
Source: Xinhua
