The current debt distress in low-income countries, including Zambia, Ghana, and Ethiopia, resembles that of the early 1980s and may continue indefinitely without global intervention, according to Harvard University professor Carmen Reinhart. Reinhart, an expert in debt and financial crises, warned that the ongoing stress lacks the urgency to resolve it, as it does not represent a systemic threat. Reinhart also cautioned that the challenge of hidden and under-reported debt in opaque contracts with China further complicates the situation.