Will the rising hostility between the United States and China make a comprehensive approach to debt relief more difficult in Africa?
Africa and the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit African countries hard.
The Controversy Over Chinese Lenders
China’s two largest overseas lenders are China Export Import Bank and China Development Bank.
Angolan Exceptionalism
In Africa, 38 countries are eligible for debt relief under the G-20 program. World Bank data indicate that as of 2018, Chinese official lenders accounted for almost 21 percent of public and publicly guaranteed debt in these 38 countries .
As noted above, the Chinese official creditor debt stock figures for Africa are distorted by the exceptional case of Angola, where Chinese banks believed they had reduced risks by collateralizing their infrastructure loans with Angola’s substantial oil exports to China.
This article was written by Deborah Brautigam
To read the full article, please click on the following link: https://thediplomat.com/2020/08/china-the-world-bank-and-african-debt-a-war-of-words/
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