Day: November 11, 2020
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The Bondholders’ View of the African Debt Crisis
The ongoing debt crisis in Zambia and several other African countries is proving to be much more difficult to resolve than in previous years because of the expanded role of both Chinese lenders and bondholders. Both of these creditors have starkly ...
Related Posts
Critical Zambian Bondholder Vote to Take Place Today
A coalition of Zambian bondholders is expected to cast their votes today (Wednesday) to decide on whether or not to grant the government a six-month repayment holiday on $3 billion of Eurobond notes, according to sources quoted by Bloomberg. Results are scheduled to ...
COVID Vaccine Narrative Battles Intensify Following Pfizer Announcement
A narrative battle over COVID-19 vaccines is emerging in the aftermath of this week's announcement by Pfizer that its vaccine is reportedly 90% effective. That news also coincided with an interruption of a Chinese-made COVID vaccine clinical in Brazil ...
COVID-19 Tops the Agenda at China-Gulf Countries Foreign Minister Meeting
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with six of his counterparts from the Gulf Cooperation Council on Tuesday for a virtual conference, where COVID-19 was atop the agenda. The ministers focused on access to a future C19 vaccine as well as PPE and other pandemic mitigation resources. ...
All This Talk About Vaccines Gives a Desperately-Needed Boost to Two of Africa’s Largest Oil Producing Countries
The prices for Nigerian Bonny Light and Angolan Cabinda crudes have regained some lost ground in November thanks to the Pfizer vaccine news and the U.S. elections. Given that both countries face enormous debt servicing challenges, these higher oil prices will help to replenish government coffers. China ...
Chinese ambassador to South Africa Wu Peng together with Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen mark the first shipment of stone fruit to China that will enter the market duty-free. Image via @SAgovnews
In a message to African heads of state gathered in Addis Ababa for the African Union's 39th summit last February, Xi Jinping announced that beginning May 1st, China would implement a “zero tariff” policy for the 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations. The message was clear. The African ...
Critical Zambian Bondholder Vote to Take Place Today
A coalition of Zambian bondholders is expected to cast their votes today (Wednesday) to decide on whether or not to grant the government a six-month repayment holiday on $3 billion of Eurobond notes, according to sources quoted by Bloomberg. Results are scheduled to ...
COVID Vaccine Narrative Battles Intensify Following Pfizer Announcement
A narrative battle over COVID-19 vaccines is emerging in the aftermath of this week's announcement by Pfizer that its vaccine is reportedly 90% effective. That news also coincided with an interruption of a Chinese-made COVID vaccine clinical in Brazil ...
COVID-19 Tops the Agenda at China-Gulf Countries Foreign Minister Meeting
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with six of his counterparts from the Gulf Cooperation Council on Tuesday for a virtual conference, where COVID-19 was atop the agenda. The ministers focused on access to a future C19 vaccine as well as PPE and other pandemic mitigation resources. ...
All This Talk About Vaccines Gives a Desperately-Needed Boost to Two of Africa’s Largest Oil Producing Countries
The prices for Nigerian Bonny Light and Angolan Cabinda crudes have regained some lost ground in November thanks to the Pfizer vaccine news and the U.S. elections. Given that both countries face enormous debt servicing challenges, these higher oil prices will help to replenish government coffers. China ...
Where Does China Buy Its Oil?
Africa's share of China's oil imports has been steadily declining over the past 15 years but the continent nonetheless remains Beijing's second-largest source of crude after the Persian Gulf. In 2008, according to George Washington University China-Africa scholar David Shinn, China imported close ...
South Africa Moves to Diversify Its Trade Ties in Asia Beyond China
South Africa is expanding its trading ties in Asia by becoming the newest partner country in the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), marking the first time a sub-Saharan country joins the regional body. Morocco and Egypt are also ASEAN partners. The move ...
Upcoming China-Africa Media Forum Highlights a Key Component of China’s Soft Power Diplomacy
The Chinese and Kenyan governments will hold a media conference next week in Nairobi that's part of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) action plan. While a lot of U.S. and European observers dismiss these kinds of events as mere propaganda exercises, they're often enthusiastically embraced by ...
Wait. Is 11.11 is Actually a Thing in Zambia? Really?
Today is the most important day on the calendar for hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers, who are expected to buy an astonishing $45 billion worth of stuff in just 24 hours. Yes, that almost $2 billion AN HOUR. While Singles Day (named for being the anti-Valentine's ...
Africa, You’re On Your Own
Back in March, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was the first leader to sound the alarm that Africa's economies were "staring at an abyss" due to the financial crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. He rightly predicted that without urgent, large-scale assistance, ...