Tag: debt
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South Africa’s President Doesn’t Just Want a 9-Month Debt Reprieve. He’s Now Calling For a Two-Year “Standstill”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called on G20 countries and other international creditors to extend a proposed debt repayment moratorium from nine-months to two years. The president issued the appeal on Friday during a virtual summit of African leaders that he convened in his capacity as chairperson ...
Moody’s Warns That Kenya’s High Borrowing Costs Could Prompt a Downgrade
The global credit rating agency Moody's is becoming increasingly concerned that Kenya will not be able to keep up with the payments on its comparatively expensive loan portfolio. Moody's adjusted Kenya's rating from B2 stable to B2 ...
While There’s an Emerging Consensus on Chinese and Other Bilateral/Multilateral African Debt Relief, Dealing With Private Creditors is Going to be a Lot More Difficult
So much of the current discussion surrounding African debt relief focuses on the role of China and the traditional multilateral lenders like the World Bank and the IMF. While there's no doubt these entities play an important role in this issue, the fact that African governments have ...
Africa’s Cost of Borrowing is Orders of Magnitude Higher Than the Rest of the World
To understand why African finance leaders are so determined to avoid a default on their Eurobond debt all you have to do is look at the current interest rates that many of the continent's largest economies are paying for their government bonds.
Uganda President Museveni Subtly Blames “Asia” For COVID-19 and Now Wants All African Debt Cancelled in Return
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said in a speech this week that because the COVID-19 outbreak is not the fault of his or any African country that the continent's international creditors should in turn help by canceling all of its debts. “The ...
A Progress Report by the UN’s Vera Songwe on the Status of African Debt Relief
Economic conditions in a number of African countries are worsening by the day. Lockdowns and a plummet in global commodity prices brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to severe economic repercussions across the continent.
There’s Growing Concern in the U.S. That Debt Relief for Africa and Other Developing Regions Would Just Help China
There is mounting concern in the United States that calls for debt relief from Africa and other developing regions that have been hit hard by COVID-19 and the subsequent economic crisis will only help those countries to pay back loans to China.
Brookings Scholar Yun Sun Provides a Road Map For Chinese Debt Relief in Africa
There's growing anticipation over how China will respond to Africa's calls for debt relief amid the worsening COVID-19 crisis that is ravaging economies across the continent. So far, there have only been a few hints as to how China will proceed, ...
From Race to Debt to COVID-19: A Conversation with Ambassador Kuang Weilin on Current Issues in China-Africa Relations
For much of the past two decades, China’s engagement in Africa has been steady, rather predictable and largely uneventful. That is, until this year. The China-Africa relationship is facing an unprecedented mix of challenges today ...
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Responds to Ghana Finance Minister’s Request for Debt Relief
The Chinese government provided its first comment regarding the appeals for African debt relief. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian addressed the issue at his regular press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday: REUTERS CORRESPONDENT: "First question, there was a ...
If African Leaders Expect China to Cancel Their Debts, They’re Probably Going to be Disappointed
It's been just over two weeks since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed issued the first call on behalf of African leaders for emergency debt relief. Since then, there hasn't been much movement on the issue in part because those appeals were broadly targeted at "international ...
David Ndii: “Coronavirus Will be the Final Nail in the Coffin of “Infrastructure-led Growth”
Economist David Ndii, one of Kenya's leading political economy thinkers, a popular columnist and a longtime critic of the government's policy of borrowing heavily from China to build infrastructure, conducted a fascinating hour-long interview with Kenyan philosopher Joseph Kabuthi ...