(Bloomberg) -- France and the UK agreed to co-chair a body that will help Zimbabwe restructure the billions of dollars it owes creditors, the southern African nation’s Finance Ministry said.
A so-called Debt Consultative Group will hold its first meeting later this month, the ministry said in a document sent by email from the capital, Harare, on Tuesday.
The aim of the group is to provide a “transparent, predictable and institutional platform” for engaging creditors, it said. Over the coming months, attention will focus on Zimbabwe’s progress under an International Monetary Fund staff-monitored program along with “supporting a credible pathway to arrears clearance” with international financial institutions, the ministry said.
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Zimbabwe has been locked out of international capital markets since 1999, after defaulting on debts owed to lenders including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Paris Club of creditors and the African Development Bank. The IMF in February approved a 10-month staff-monitored program for the country that’s seen as a stepping stone toward a potential fund-supported facility.
Zimbabwe’s total public debt is estimated at $21.3 billion, according to the country’s Annual Public Debt Bulletin.