Zambia is running out of money to pay its debts. It has asked bondholders for breathing space so that it can put a restructuring plan in place. The copper-rich African state is at risk of being the first country to default on its debts since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Not the last though. Zambia is the canary in the coalmine, a harbinger of a full-blown crisis that has been lurking in the background from the moment the seriousness of Covid-19 became apparent.
All the ingredients were in place for trouble. A lot of countries, Zambia included, had behaved recklessly in the good times. As the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, pointed out last week, they went into the crisis with levels …
Read the full article at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/04/creditors-must-wake-up-fast-to-threat-of-emerging-market-debt-crisis
