Zambia says planning to swap Chinese debt from dollar to yuan

Zambia’s Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe. [Photo: Courtesy]

LUSAKA - Zambia plans to swap its Chinese debt from dollars to yuan in a bid to ease pressure on the copper producer’s foreign reserves, its Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe said on Wednesday.

Mwanakatwe told journalists that discussions with China on the planned debt swap were likely to be held in late March.

“Our intention is to swap the dollar into yuan so that we can try to somewhat mitigate exposure to the dollar,” Mwanakatwe said.