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IMF Releases Sri Lanka Loan Despite Restructure Delays

The International Monetary Fund released $336 million as part of a bailout loan installment for Sri Lanka despite delays in the crucial restructuring of its foreign debt, including to China, the Washington-based lender said Wednesday. The South Asian nation was starting ...

Making Sense of Competing Narratives on Debt and Climate Change

By Tim Hirschel-Burns If you are a casual observer trying to keep up with the news on sovereign debt right now, you have every right to be confused by last month’s stories. According to Bloomberg, ...

Africa’s Debt Dilemma: The Urgent Need for More Equitable Borrowing

For the first time in years, a few African countries are venturing back into the bond market to raise funds for infrastructure and to pay down their debts. However, borrowing more from private creditors is a risky move given the difficulties ...

A Primer on China’s Role in the Worsening Zambian Debt Crisis

Zambia's debt restructuring deal that was hailed earlier this year as a "landmark" breakthrough for developing countries is now in shambles. Talks broke down a couple of weeks ago when bilateral creditors led by China and France objected to the terms ...

As Debt Resolution Deadlock Looms, Which Scenarios Face Us?

China’s rapid rise as a global lender has also made it a significant disrupter of the business-as-usual of debt restructuring. While Western stakeholders have framed China’s role as a ‘barrier,’ Beijing insists that it is being treated unfairly in comparison to Western-led ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

2026: Africa-China Relations in a World Shaped by North-South Geopolitics

When talking about Africa–China relations, one is always moving along a sliding scale. There are myriad interactions with Chinese entities that concern only individual African countries, segueing into trends affecting the whole continent and sliding further into global dynamics shaping the developing world, of which Africa is the heart.

The Africa-China relationship is its own thing, but Africa’s fate can’t easily be separated from factors affecting the wider Global South, ...

China Signals Its Approval of Ethiopian Debt Restructuring Talks

Beijing gave its blessing on Wednesday to the new creditors committee that China's co-chairing with France to overhaul Ethiopia's $30 billion debt. The committee, operating under the auspices of the G20, met for the first time on September 16th and plans ...

Hichilema Acknowledges Zambia’s Debt “Hole” is Bigger Than He Thought

Newly-elected President Hakainde Hichilema's brief honeymoon with the international financial community may have come to an end on Wednesday when he publicly acknowledged what's long been suspected: that Zambia's hidden debts are far more extensive than what's been publicly disclosed.  Zambia’s ...

G20 Suspends Debt Repayments For Another Six Months

The G20 is providing developing countries with yet more breathing room to repay their debts. G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs met yesterday and announced that it would extend the Debt Service Suspension Initiative by another six months from June through December.

The Star Editorial Board: SGR Needs to Go Regional to Repay Its Chinese Creditors

Kenya needs to invest even more money into the embattled SGR if the railway has any chance of becoming financially self-sufficient to the point where it can repay its Chinese creditors, according to an editorial in today's The Star newspaper. For ...

Who’s Next to Fall? Moody’s Points to Mozambique

In the wake of Zambia's default on a portion of its private creditor debt and the subsequent downgrade by international credit ratings agencies, investors are scanning the map to see which country will tumble next. According to the global ratings agency Moody's Investors Services, Mozambique is a ...

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 ...

It Looks Increasingly Unlikely Africa Will be Able to Negotiate Package Debt Relief Deals With Either Private Creditors or the Chinese

Hopes for a consolidated African debt relief package from both private creditors and Chinese lenders appear to be fading. On Friday, news came that a coalition, the Africa Private Creditor Working Group or AfricaPCWG, representing 25 large asset managers and institutions had been formed to negotiate with borrowers.