When it was announced in 2023 that the African Union would become a full member of the G20, I darkly joked on a podcast that the AU’s entry into the body could very well mark the moment the G20 lost its status as one of the most important global coordination forums. Mark my words, I said, soon The Economist will be like “Uhhh, the G20 is OVER – it’s the ...
Tag: debt restructure
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Debt in Africa: Everyone’s Watching What China Does in Zambia
The United Nations Development Program issued a new report this week that once again sounded the alarm on the urgent need for debt relief in the world's poorest countries. The UNDP said 54 countries are at risk, with African countries accounting ...
Magalie Masamba on What It’s Going to Take to Resolve Africa’s Debt Distress
Until a few years ago, before the pandemic, most African economies were among the world's best performing in terms of debt. Revenues were sufficient and debt-to-GDP levels were largely well below the IMF's 50% threshold. ...
World Bank Chief Calls for New Debt Resolution Tools, Blames China for Debt Crises
David Malpass, the president of the World Bank, again singled out China in calling for new debt restructuring mechanisms to help the developing world. Malpass and the International Monetary Fund’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters that rising interest rates are exacerbating a debt crisis among developing countries already ...
5 Recommendations for Tackling the Sovereign Debt Challenge in Southern Africa
By Daniel Bradlow and Magalie Masamba The COVID-19 pandemic has had a particularly profound adverse impact on Africa’s sovereign debt situation. Currently, 22 low-income African countries are either in debt distress or at high risk of debt distress. This situation is likely to ...
As the World Forgets About the Debt Crisis, More African Countries Struggle to Stay Afloat Amid Rising Servicing Costs
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 ...
The Shifting Landscape of Chinese Financing to Africa
Today we feature a fascinating discussion with Deborah Brautigam and Kevin Gallagher, two of the world’s foremost experts on Chinese lending to the Global South. The conversation provides a glimpse of an emerging landscape: how Chinese influence will shift, and how those shifts will impact the Global ...
China’s Rapidly Evolving Lending Practices in Africa and the Americas
It wasn't that long ago when China lent tens of billions of dollars to developing countries in Africa and the Americas to build vast amounts of badly-needed infrastructure. Now, it appears, those days are over. ...
Kenya to Take Control of Some SGR Responsibilities Ahead of Schedule in an Effort to Reduce Debt Burden
Kenya Railways (KR) and Afristar, a subsidiary of the state-owned China Road and Bridge Corporation, have agreed to transfer some of the responsibilities of operating the embattled Standard Gauge Railway years ahead of schedule as part of an effort to reduce the financial burden on ...
Kenya’s Delicate Balancing Act Between the U.S. and China
Kenya has done far better than many countries in fostering robust ties with both the United States and China, particularly in economic relations. Just last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta spoke by phone with his American counterpart Joe Biden and ...
Researchers Want Official Washington to Know That China’s Actually Doing Quite a Bit to Relieve the Debt Problem in Africa
While U.S. policymakers are trying to come up with a new, more effective approach to challenge China's engagement in Africa, a trio of scholars at the Washington, D.C.-based China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University want to make it clear that Beijing is actually doing far more ...
Ethiopia’s Appeal For Debt Relief Puts China’s Loan Portfolio Under the Spotlight
Ten months ago, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was the first African leader to sound the alarm over the debt crisis that would ensue from the then-nascent outbreak of COVID-19. African economies, he warned face an "existential threat" from the combined effects of an unprecedented ...
Kenya, China Agree to $245 Million Debt Deferral Deal
China and Kenya have agreed to a six-month debt repayment holiday worth $245 million. Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani announced the deal during a radio interview on Wednesday when he said the deferral "will give us an opportunity and break on the kind of liquidity ...