Prices of digital currencies plunged last year amid the
collapse of exchange FTX and a number of other companies, though
they have recovered some of the losses this year.
"What we are seeing is increased appetite to invest in
Zambia," Mutati said, when asked whether any investments under
his purview had been delayed, suspended or cancelled due to
Zambia's long-delayed debt restructuring.
Zambia, which was the first African country to default in
the COVID-19 era in 2020, could lose gains made from economic
reforms, if the restructuring of $18.6 billion of external debt
is further delayed, the country's Treasury secretary said on
Wednesday.
Creditors from China, which has been accused by some Western
officials of slowing down the restructuring process, hold the
largest portion of Zambia's external debt - about $5.7 billion
at the end of 2022, according to government data.
Mutati said the way Chinese loans were contracted during his
tenure as finance minister between 2016 and 2018 depended on the
project.
He said state power utility Zesco approached China's
Sinohydro about building the Kafue Lower Gorge hydropower
project, funded by a $1 billion loan by the Export-Import Bank
of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
The government initiated the new Lusaka international
airport, he said, while Chinese investors started the Chambishi
economic zone.
(Reporting by Chris Mfula and Rachel Savage; Editing by Leslie
Adler)
By Chris Mfula and Rachel Savage
LUSAKA, April 12 (Reuters) - Zambia is planning to
finish tests that simulate real-world cryptocurrency usage by
the end of June to help it create regulations that balance
citizens' safety with innovation, science and technology
minister Felix Mutati told Reuters.
The southern African country also needs digital
infrastructure, including digital identities, before
cryptocurrencies can be introduced, Mutati said in an interview
on Wednesday.
The Central African Republic surprised investors last year
by making bitcoin legal tender and launching its own
cryptocurrency token, but other African countries have been
warier, with Nigeria banning banks from handling crypto assets.
"Our main goal in the area of cryptocurrency is to strike a
balance between innovation in terms of digital payments ...
against citizens' safety, particularly given that cryptocurrency
is very volatile," Mutati said.
"The central bank is simulating that to see what would
happen in the real world. The results will assist us (in) the
formulation of the regulation."
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