Zambia's Bonds Plummet on Concern It's Pulling a Mozambique

  • Investors question government’s official external debt figure
  • Zambian bonds are worst-performers in emerging markets in 2018
The New Government Complex facility stands in Lusaka, Zambia, on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015.

Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg

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Investors fretting that Zambia may have more debt than it’s let on have sent the nation’s Eurobonds tumbling.

Yields on the copper-producing country’s $1.25 billion amortizing bonds due in 2027 rose as much as 54 basis points on Monday to 8.45 percent, the highest in more than a year. The debt pared losses on Tuesday, with yields falling 9 basis points to 8.33 percent by 12:39 p.m. in London.