S&P Removes Zambia’s Default Rating on Debt Recast Progress

S&P Global Ratings removed its default rating for Zambia, five years after the country missed a dollar bond payment in 2020 and became Africa’s first pandemic-era sovereign defaulter.

The company assigned the southern African nation a ‘CCC+’ long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating, with a stable outlook. While noting that Zambia has made progress in restructuring debt, it flagged lingering questions over the process’s finalization, and economic risks tied to next year’s elections.