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China’s Lending Will Be Demand-Driven: Ambassador

by Cobus van Staden
Chinese ambassador to Kenya, Zhou Pingjian, during an interview with the Kenyan newspaper The Star at the Chinese embassy in Nairobi. Image via The Star.

China will not promote loan-supported projects to the Global South but will be led by recipient country demand. This was one of the takeaways from a recent interview with China’s ambassador to Kenya, Zhou Pingjian.

His comments included hints of China’s emerging, more cautious approach to Global South lending, as many countries face debt distress. Kenya is a key example, and Zhou’s interview came as China’s loans to Kenya declined for the first time in twenty years, from $7.05 billion in 2021 to $6.83 billion now.

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