Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta became the first senior-level African official to specifically call on China for help in relieving the spiraling African debt crisis. Until now, African leaders had issued general appeals to the “international community” for debt relief but never mentioned any individual creditors like China.
“My feeling is that China has to come on stronger,” said the finance minister who wore a protective mask against COVID-19 infection during a somewhat unusual-looking online video discussion with Masood Ahmed, the president of the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Center for Global Development.