By Andrew Duehren and Gabriele Steinhauser

Treasury secretary pursues crucial test of U.S.-backed effort to help developing countries

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on China to forgive debts owed by Zambia, whose two-year struggle to restructure a $17.49 billion pile of foreign-currency loans and bonds has become a cautionary tale for other developing countries.

Zambia defaulted on its dollar-denominated bonds and loans from Chinese banks in November 2020, just hours after finance ministers from the Group of 20 major economies said they had come up with a new process for restructuring the debts of the world’s poorest countries.

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