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Hichilema Acknowledges Zambia’s Debt “Hole” is Bigger Than He Thought

by Eric Olander

Newly-elected President Hakainde Hichilema’s brief honeymoon with the international financial community may have come to an end on Wednesday when he publicly acknowledged what’s long been suspected: that Zambia’s hidden debts are far more extensive than what’s been publicly disclosed. 

Zambia’s dollar bonds saw their biggest fall in more than two months after the president-elect said publicly that he had inherited an “empty treasury” and that the debt “hole” was much larger than he anticipated.

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