The deal is a much-needed win for the so-called Common Framework.

The African nation's President Hakainde Hichilema posted on X that "history has been made," while International Monetary Fund (IMF) President Kristalina Georgieva lauded the "important achievement."

Global leaders hope that Ghana may soon reach its own deal with lenders, boosting the Framework before the IMF World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. in mid-April.

But the scars from Zambia's drawn-out battles with creditors and its years-long, stop-start progress, have left investors, observers and many policymakers themselves wary of the multilateral mechanism's efficacy.

It was designed to expedite talks between a myriad of lenders from Chinese State-owned institutions to London-based asset managers and New York banks. "I don't think anyone is filled with a tremendous sense of confidence that the Common Framework is going to speed up the debt negotiation process," said London-based Kevin Daly, Head of Emerging Market debt at Abrdn, which held some of Zambia's $3 billion worth of international bonds.

Ricardo Klinger, Brazil's Finance Ministry official in the G20 International Financial Architecture Working Group, said those involved in Zambia's restructuring would discuss lessons learned. Brazil currently holds the G20 presidency.

"The stages are being completed more quickly because it is a learning process," Klinger said.

He said they aim to publish a document in July incorporating feedback from all sides of Zambia's restructuring to identify bottlenecks and potential improvements to gain time.

"The document seeks to synthesise this learning in these recent cases to build a more refined process," he said.

--Reuters--