Fitch downgrades Zambia

Fitch Ratings said it downgraded Zambia's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating to B- from B with a negative outlook.

The downgrade reflects the substantial upward revision in the government budget deficit targets, Fitch said.

Both documents lay out the government's fiscal framework, which envisages a reduction in the fiscal deficit to 5.1% of GDP by 2021, down from 7.9% in 2017, the agency said.

The new fiscal framework represents a significantly less ambitious fiscal consolidation effort than the previously expected, Fitch said.

The agency said it now forecasts Zambia's general government debt to reach 69% of GDP by year-end 2018, up from 60% at year-end 2017.

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