In November of 2020, Zambia became the first African country to renege on its debt service obligations since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Since then, official and private lenders as well as governments have become apprehensive about a looming solvency crisis in Africa. This heightened perception of risk is underpinned by the fact that like Zambia, most countries on the continent are commodity dependent and have borrowed considerably from lenders that are reluctant in providing debt service suspension. Worse still, they are also experiencing a reduction in external financing from foreign direct investment, remittances, and development aid.
February 8, 2021
