Zambia

As Africa continues to lag behind in the global COVID-19 vaccination race, the continent faces a dangerous resurgence of coronavirus, with deaths and hospital admissions reaching record levels. With just under 5.3 million reported cases and about 139,000 deaths among its nearly 1.3 billion people, Africa is still the world's least affected continent after Oceania, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP). So far, African countries have been spared disasters comparable to Brazil or India. But the…

Zambia has declared 21 days of national mourning following the death of father Kenneth Kaunda on Thursday at the age of 97. And tributes follow each other from especially southern Africa. Like Zambia, South Africa has declared a period of national mourning: ten days of immediate effect in memory, says Cyril Ramaphosa, of…

The Zambian government on Thursday announced the death at the age of 97 of the country's first president, Kenneth Kaunda, the father of the independence of the former British protectorate, which he led for 27 years. He was nicknamed "African Gandhi" for his non-violent activism. Kenneth Kaunda led the former northern Rhodesia to bloodless independence in 1964. He "died peacefully" at 2.30pm (12.30pm GMT) in hospital, said Secretary of State Simon Miti on Thursday. National mourning for 21 days has been declared. The…

The Gemfields group has announced the reopening of the Kagem emerald mine, one of the largest in the world. Closed for a year due to a pandemic, activity resumes at a time when the price of small green stones is starting to rise. Emerald from the Kagem mine is expected to return to the trading market this week. They will…

After failing to fulfill $ 42.5 million attributable to its Western collectors in October, Zambia acknowledges that it has critical money flows, however says it's not in chapter. Lusaka explains that they intentionally selected to not substitute any donor. "All collectors needs to be handled pretty," mentioned Zambia's central…

African countries and their creditors have their eyes set on Zambia, which in the coming weeks could become the first defaulted country since the Covid-19 crisis. Lusaka this week asked its creditors to postpone the deadlines for a tranche of three billion euros of loans in Eurobonds. At the same time, Zambia is reluctant to settle arrears of payments to its Chinese creditors. If there is no agreement, the country says it will no longer be able to pay its debt. The Zambian case highlights the inadequacy of the measures…

Zambia has failed to secure a moratorium on its Eurobond debt from its private creditors. Zambia is one of the many countries that have become indebted to Eurobonds in recent years. As the IMF worries about an alarming rise in debt in Africa, several African countries could quickly default on their payments. The event did not…