In November 2020, Zambia became the first African country to default on its Eurobonds during the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the country’s debt distress into headlines around the world. Bondholders’ refusal to provide debt suspension rested largely on fears that Zambia was not disclosing significant liabilities to Chinese creditors. In August 2021, national elections led to […]
By Kevin Acker Chinese loans have become an important source of infrastructure finance for African countries over the past two decades, with Chinese financiers committing approximately $153 billion to African governments and state-owned enterprises between 2000 and 2019. The COVID-19 crisis has introduced new challenges to African borrowers and Chinese financiers, as borrowers negotiate debt […]
Summarizing 20 years of data, Kevin Acker and Deborah Brautigam discuss the changing landscape of Chinese lending to Africa in a new policy brief, jointly published with the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS-CARI). In the policy brief, Brautigam, SAIS-CARI Director, and Acker, SAIS-CARI […]
In recent years, China has become a highly visible and talked about actor in Africa’s financial landscape. As the economic and political dimensions of China-Africa relations continue to grow and shift, how has Chinese lending to African nations changed over time? What was the state of Chinese lending to Africa prior to the COVID-19 pandemic […]
In just over a decade, China has become a major source of finance for emerging markets and developing country governments. China and recipient governments have been less than transparent with respect to the scale, terms and composition of this finance, engendering a great deal of speculation about its nature. In a 2014 journal article published […]