By Duncan Miriri
NAIROBI, May 5 (Reuters) - The International Monetary
Fund expects to disburse the next tranche of its $1.3 billion
financing program with Zambia "soon", the managing director of
the fund said.
The southern African nation, which was the major sovereign
casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been in default since
2020, is seeking to overhaul its debt in a slow process and it
secured the IMF funding last August.
"What we are waiting is creditors of Zambia to agree on a
path forward... We expect to be able to disburse for Zambia very
soon," Kristalina Georgieva told reporters in the Kenyan
capital.
Zambia sent a debt restructuring proposal to its official
creditors last month and Georgieva said they are set to meet
next week to consider the proposal.
Ghana and Ethiopia have also sought to restructure their
debts and Georgieva said the processes have been delayed by a
"cacophony" caused by the diversification of creditors in recent
years.
China is the largest bilateral creditor for many African
nations including Zambia.
"The Chinese premier and former premier confirmed that
Chinese were committed to debt resolution for Zambia when I met
them," Georgieva said.
Some 19 out of 35 sub-Saharan African nations are at or
close to the risk of debt distress, Georgieva said, citing the
impact of the pandemic, Russia's war in Ukraine, high interest
rates and weaker currencies.
But she ruled out the risk of Kenya slipping into default,
despite acute pressure on its finances by rising debt repayment
obligations.
"Kenya is definitely not among them," she said, citing a
sustainable debt load and solid hard currency reserves.
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri, Editing by William Maclean)
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