Poor countries, including many in Africa, are increasingly in a debt trap… not to the Chinese but private creditors. One of the world’s big three credit ratings agencies, Fitch Ratings, issued a new report on Friday that clearly states if a country seeks any kind of debt repayment suspension from a private creditor, that could be interpreted as a form of default which would result in a downgrade.

Any downward revision of a country’s credit would automatically increase the cost of borrowing, something African countries have been desperately trying to avoid.