CHINA, the biggest state lender to the third world, said it will forgive 23 interest-free loans to 17 African countries and redirect US$10 billion of its International Monetary Fund reserves to nations on the continent, reports Bloomberg.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced the cancellations in a meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, according to a post on the ministry's website. It didn't provide details on the value of the loans which it said matured at the end of 2021, nor did it state which nations owed the money.
Since 2000, Beijing has announced multiple rounds of debt forgiveness of interest-free loans to African countries, cancelling at least $3.4 billion of debt through 2019, according to a study published by Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. The cancelled debt was limited to mature, interest-free foreign aid loans, with Zambia receiving the most cancellations over that period.
However, the vast majority of China's recent lending in Africa such as concessional loans and commercial loans have never been considered for cancellation, the report added, though some of it has been restructured.
SeaNews Turkey
Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced the cancellations in a meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, according to a post on the ministry's website. It didn't provide details on the value of the loans which it said matured at the end of 2021, nor did it state which nations owed the money.
Since 2000, Beijing has announced multiple rounds of debt forgiveness of interest-free loans to African countries, cancelling at least $3.4 billion of debt through 2019, according to a study published by Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. The cancelled debt was limited to mature, interest-free foreign aid loans, with Zambia receiving the most cancellations over that period.
However, the vast majority of China's recent lending in Africa such as concessional loans and commercial loans have never been considered for cancellation, the report added, though some of it has been restructured.
SeaNews Turkey
