June 21 (Reuters) – The United States welcomes progress in talks between Zambia and its official creditors and hopes an agreement is imminent, a senior Treasury Department official said on Wednesday.

The official, who spoke on condition they not be identified, said it was not clear whether an announcement on a deal could be made at a Paris summit this week on easing the debt burdens of low-income countries.

The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it was encouraged by the progress made with Zambia, adding a deal could be reached in a few days.

“We welcome progress made on Zambia and hope an agreement on official bilateral creditors is imminent,” the U.S. official told reporters on a conference call.

Zambia’s hopes of restructuring about $12.8 billion of external debt have been hampered by the concerns of its main creditors about the required scale of relief.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Alexander Smith)