The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Africa director said on Monday that he was "hopeful" that Zambia and its official creditors would announce a finalised debt restructuring deal before Thursday. "We're very hopeful that the authorities and the creditors will be in a position to make an announcement very, very soon," Abebe Selassie told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Marrakech.

"They've told us that there's been very strong progress, that they're in the last stage of finalising things." (Reporting by Rachel Savage and Jorgelina do Rosario; editing by Jason Neely)