Bondholders stand to make profits of $14bn on resolutions of sovereign debt crises that broke out from Ukraine to Zambia in recent years, according to calculations by a UK debt campaigner. Restructurings under way or recently concluded in Ghana, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Ukraine and Zambia will provide more than $30bn in debt relief for the countries in the years ahead. They will also deliver sizeable gains to investors over time, if governments avoid further defaults, Debt Justice said.
To arrive at the $14bn figure, Debt Justice assumed that investors bought half of their bonds when they were originally sold by governments, usually at face value, and half at market prices, which collapsed as defaults loomed and then in some cases took years to be resolved.