“Fitch rates five sovereigns at ‘CCC’ or below (excluding those in default): Gabon, Mozambique, Republic of Congo and Suriname at ‘CCC’ and Zambia at ‘CC’. The average annual default rate over 1995-2019 for ‘CCC/CC/C’ sovereigns was 26.5% and the cumulative five-year default rate was 38.5%.”
“The government is unlikely to be able to fully meet its external debt obligations in 2020 and 2021 in the absence of new external financing sources. The government faces external debt service payments, including principal and interest, totalling USD1.5 billion in 2020; this is approximately 115% of official gross international reserves at end-January 2020.”
A hub for information, analysis, and the global response to COVID-19’s impact on Africa