China’s Foreign Minster Rejects Africa Debt Trap Accusations
“China’s contribution is concrete in bettering the lives of African people,” Qin said on Wednesday through an interpreter in a speech in Ethiopia, where the African Union is headquartered. “We don’t accept the unreasonable label of debt trap.”
China accounts for about 12% of Africa’s external debt of around $700 billion, with Zambia and Ghana, both of whom have defaulted on their debt obligations, among its biggest creditors on the continent, according to London-based international affairs policy institute Chatham House. Still, its lending has funded an infrastructure boom in many African nations.
Qin, citing World Bank data, said that multilateral lenders account for three quarters of Africa’s external debt and should play a bigger role in resolving payment issues. Sub-Saharan Africa’s external debt-servicing costs will likely rise 50% by 2026 from 2019 levels and as many as 18 of the continent’s 54 nations will struggle to pay what they owe, according to the Paris-based Finance for Development Lab.
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