Category: Economy
Why Does Nigerian Representative Ben Rollands Igbakpa Want to Review Almost 20 Years of Loans From China?
Earlier this month, on May 13, Nigerian representative Ben Rollands Igbakpa introduced a motion that was passed by the House calling for an investigation into all of the country's loans from China dating back to 2000. Representative Igbakpa ...
Chinese Workers in Angola Stage Protest to Go Home
University of London PhD candidate Hangwei Li shared an image of a small group of Chinese workers protesting outside of the Chinese embassy in Angola where they called on the government for help to send them home. Li explained ...
China’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Says Calls for China to Pay Reparations for COVID-19 Are “Absurd”
China's Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Guo Shaochun, stridently rejected calls for Beijing to pay reparations to other countries for the economic damage brought about from the COVID-19 outbreak. "Recently, some politicians have been trying to pin the blame for the COVID-19 outbreak ...
Background: What Does Kenya Owe? And to Whom?
While there's widespread concern in Kenya about the country falling prey to a Chinese "debt trap," the reality is that Kenyans should be far more concerned about the consequences of failing to repay private creditors than the small Chinese portion of its national debt. ...
With No Debt Relief Deal in Place, Africa’s Economic Crisis Worsens by the Day
The cost of borrowing for many African governments is rapidly rising as the economic crisis on the continent worsens. While the double-digit yields on African bonds is great news for investors looking for new growth opportunities, it's an absolute tragedy for governments who are forced to divert even ...
Chinese Officials Are Rallying Behind the G20’s Debt Relief Efforts But Saying Little About All Those Bilateral Loans
China's Ambassador to Namibia, Zhang Yiming, Tweeted out a summary of Wang Yi's comments related to Africa that the foreign minister shared at a press conference in Beijing on Sunday. While Ambassador Zhang and Foreign Minister Wang appear ...
Chinese FM Wang Yi Pushes Back Against Critics in Africa and Offers More Public Support for the G20’s Debt Relief Agenda
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a press conference on Sunday with both domestic and international journalists during the ongoing 13th National People's Congress (NPC), China's annual legislative session. Unsurprisingly, China's handling of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis at home and abroad, ...
How is China Going to Approach the Debt Crisis in Africa?
One of the big questions around the burgeoning debt crisis in Africa is how will China respond? With an estimated $152 billion of outstanding loans on the continent, Beijing is by far the continent's largest bilateral creditor. No discussion ...
Even if Africa’s Creditors Reach a Debt Relief Deal, Moody’s Says It Won’t Matter in the Long Run
The global credit rating agency Moody's Investors Services issued a grim warning this week that even if African governments are able to finalize a debt relief deal with their creditors, it won't help very much. "While debt-service relief will allow some ...
African Development Bank President: “It’s Not Fair”:
People like World Bank President David Malpass and AfDB head Dr. Akinwumi Adesina are surprisingly upbeat about the prospect of finding a solution to Africa's worsening debt crisis. Maybe they have to because it's their job, but the reality is that their ...
World Bank President Frustrated About the Slow Pace of Private Debt Relief for Africa
World Bank President David Malpass said in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday that he is disappointed that Africa's private creditors aren't doing more to provide badly-needed relief for poor countries struggling amid worsening economic conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. (BLOOMBERG) ...
African Leaders Criticize Wealthy Countries For Lack of Progress on Debt Relief
Five African presidents, from Kenya, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Niger, decried the lack of meaningful progress by wealthy industrial countries on debt relief and financial assistance to the continent amid the worsening COVID-19 outbreak. The leaders took part in a ...