LUSAKA  - An orderly debt restructuring process for Zambia will be hard to achieve without an IMF programme, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said on Friday, as he confirmed China and bondholders would join negotiations.

Musokotwane told journalists he expected an International Monetary Fund programme would be concluded by the end of June, and the World Bank has also committed to providing financial resources to the country.

In 2020, Zambia became the first country to default in the pandemic era, struggling with a debt burden of almost $32 billion, around 120% of its gross domestic product.

The country's creditors must now sit down together to agree on the debt relief they will offer, Musokotwane said.

Zambia needs to reach an agreement on making its debt sustainable with official bilateral creditors in order to unlock IMF funding.

Musokotwane had said the debt restructuring process was "stalled" at IMF meetings last month, after the country secured a staff-level agreement on a $1.4 billion three-year credit facility with the fund in December.

China, which holds $5.78 billion of Zambia's debt, then offered to co-chair Zambia's creditor committee at the meetings. South Africa's finance ministry has said it and France have also offered to co-chair.

(Reporting by Chris Mfula, writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Rachel Savage; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Andrew Heavens)