As the World Forgets About the Debt Crisis, More African Countries Struggle to Stay Afloat Amid Rising Servicing Costs

File photo. CARL DE SOUZA / AFP

Last year at this time, expectations ran high that Africa’s largest creditors in Beijing, and among the Paris Club members were all motivated to restructure their outstanding loans to reduce the burden on some of the world’s poorest countries. 

Well, it turns out the Chinese policy banks, the bondholders in London and New York, the multilateral lenders like the IMF and World Bank, along with the Group of 20 wealthiest countries, weren’t actually that motivated to help after all.

  • Get a daily email packed with the latest China-Africa news and analysis.
  • Read exclusive insights on the key trends shaping China-Africa relations.
  • Full access to the News Feed that provides daily updates on Chinese engagement in Africa and throughout the Global South.

China, Africa and the Global South... find out what’s happening.

Subscribe today for unlimited access.

OR

Already a subscriber? Log in Click Here to Learn More
by Eric Olander

Most Read

1
Developing Countries’ Debt Servicing Costs to China Are Significant, but Nowhere Near as Much as Other Creditors
2 Chinese Military Fans Discuss Why Indonesia Bought Rafale Instead of J-10C
3
Indonesia Begins $5.9 Billion Chinese EV Battery Project Despite Environment Fears
4
Chinese Cargo Planes Secretly Ferrying Supplies to Iran, Claim Online Sleuths
5
Indonesia Goes Nuclear, Taps China and Russia for Modular Reactors
6
China, U.S. Ink Rare Earth Deal; More Trade Pacts Coming

You Might Like

Debt Relief for World’s Poorest Countries Barely Mentioned at G20 Summit in Rome

Leaders from the world’s wealthiest countries meeting in Rome over the weekend covered a lot of ground on everything from finalizing an agreement on a global minimum corporate tax to new 

Backgrounder: IMF Quota Discussions in Marrakesh Point to Tectonic Change

This week’s IMF and World Bank meetings in Morocco will discuss fundamental changes to the global financial architecture, including who gets to make decisions in the World Bank and the International ...

Meaningful Debt Relief Probably Isn’t Going to Happen. We Should All be Worried.

The Financial Times newspaper deserves a lot of credit for calling out the world’s wealthiest governments for their glaring hypocrisy on the issue of African debt relief. While treasuries in the ...

Africa to G20 Members: Pay a Little Now or Pay a Lot Later

When things fall apart no one will be able to say they didn’t see it coming. Last year, when we spoke with Ghananian conservationist Kofi Agbogah, executive director of the ...

What is The China-Global South Project?

Independent

The China-Global South Project is passionately independent, non-partisan and does not advocate for any country, company or culture.

News

A carefully curated selection of the day’s most important China-Global South stories. Updated 24 hours a day by human editors. No bots, no algorithms.

Analysis

Diverse, often unconventional insights from scholars, analysts, journalists and a variety of stakeholders in the China-Global South discourse.

Networking

A unique professional network of China-Africa scholars, analysts, journalists and other practioners from around the world.

More about CGSP