Things seem to be looking brighter for Zambia on the macroeconomic plan. Pressure on the country’s exchange reserves decreased and its public debt is more bearable. This is what show various indicators analyzed by IMF in its global outlook, updated last month.

Behind this improvement is the hike in price of copper, which allowed the kwacha (local currency) to strengthen to dollar, thus slowing inflation which, at the end of April, had reached 20% compared to prices of the reference year.

Kwacha’s revalorization also alleviated funding of public debt which comprises $6.2 billion (3/4 of total) sovereign bonds (international debt) and $2.4 billion in the local currency.

Now, what is yet to be known is to see if kwacha’s strengthening, which is stemmed by rise in copper prices, which also is spurred by a growing demand from China, will have a positive impact on the mid or long term. The answer to that will be provided by Zambian authorities in June 2016 as they will release new statistics for their public finances.

Analysts however believe that, beyond statistics for export, the current recovery is due to the government’s choice to reduce its debt. Despite this, Zambia is not sheltered from sheltered degradation as copper prices on the global market could fall anytime.