15 November, 2020
Zambia is on the brink of defaulting on its foreign debt after it missed a payment of over $40m (£30m) last month.
A so-called grace period will expire on Friday, which would make it Africa’s first country to default on sovereign debt since the coronavirus pandemic. Zambia was already struggling with its $12bn external debt load. But the coronavirus has aggravated pre-existing financial pressures in the country. The pandemic has put an additional burden on health services and depressed economic activity and the government has said that is the cause of its difficulties. - BBC