Analysts: China to Cut Back Lending to Africa in the Post-COVID-19-Era

Chinese infrastructure lending to African countries is widely expected to slow over the next 1-2 years amid mounting debt sustainability concerns, according to analysts interviewed by the South China Morning Post. This would mark a dramatic change over the past twenty years when Beijing emerged as a key source of development finance that helped Africa close its gaping $100 billion-a-year infrastructure deficit.

From 2000 to 2018, China extended $148 billion of loans, mostly for infrastructure development, according to data from the China-Africa Research Initiative. But now, as a growing number of those countries are struggling to repay their debts, Chinese creditors are becoming understandably cautious about providing new loans to borrowers facing considerable financial duress.