{"id":6991,"date":"2021-09-28T20:37:49","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T20:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-chinese-debt-nearly-twice-official-estimate-study-finds"},"modified":"2021-09-28T21:06:48","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T21:06:48","slug":"zambias-chinese-debt-nearly-twice-official-estimate-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-chinese-debt-nearly-twice-official-estimate-study-finds","title":{"rendered":"Zambia\u2019s Chinese debt nearly twice official estimate, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Zambia<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Reuters reports that Zambia\u2019s debt to Chinese public and private lenders is $6.6 billion, almost double the amount disclosed by the previous Zambian government, an analysis of loan data by the China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) has estimated.<\/p>\n

Zambia became Africa\u2019s first coronavirus-era sovereign default last November and its ongoing debt restructuring has become a test case of Western multilateral efforts for countries to fully disclose their borrowings.<\/p>\n

Zambia\u2019s previous government led by Edgar Lungu said its Chinese debt stood at $3.4 billion. But the estimate published by CARI on Tuesday chimes with recent comments from newly-elected President Hakainde Hichilema, who took office last month, that the debt load is likely higher.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s international creditors, which the government is in talks with, have complained that the lack of detail on Zambia\u2019s China loans \u2013 which carry specific non-disclosure terms \u2013 has hindered the debt restructuring process.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the complicated situation\u2026 reaching consensus on burden-sharing is likely to prove exceptionally difficult,\u201d the CARI researchers who made the new estimate, Deborah Brautigam and Yinxuan Wang, wrote.<\/p>\n

The new $6.6 billion figure is based on Chinese loan data collected by CARI at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. It is likely to continue to grow as it does not include penalties or interest arrears that continue to build up.<\/p>\n

China is Africa\u2019s largest creditor. It is part of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund-supported Debt Service Suspension Initiative which has temporarily frozen debt payments to dozens of the world\u2019s poorest countries, but it is being urged to do more in terms of disclosure.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s study estimated that $7.77 billion in loans to Zambia and its state-owned enterprises were disbursed by 18 major and minor Chinese banks or funds from 2000 to August 2021. Of those, Zambia has repaid at least $1.2 billion.<\/p>\n

Their estimate does not change Zambia\u2019s total debt load of $14.3 billion, the researchers said, but shows that the Lungu government \u201cwas not transparent about the heavy weight of Chinese financiers among its many external creditors\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bwalya Ngandu, finance minister under Lungu, has said it is not true that Zambia\u2019s debt numbers were understated. \u201cWe have never hidden any debt,\u201d he said in a statement earlier this month. The researchers found six instances where Chinese lenders cancelled debt owed by Zambia, for a total of $392 million. Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. Reuters reports that Zambia\u2019s debt to Chinese public and private lenders is $6.6 billion, almost double the amount disclosed by the previous Zambian government, an analysis of loan data by the China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) has estimated. Zambia became Africa\u2019s first coronavirus-era sovereign default last November and its ongoing debt restructuring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8,16],"tags":[234,235,3066,2255,233],"class_list":["post-6991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-chinese-loan","tag-international-monetary-fund","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nZambia\u2019s Chinese debt nearly twice official estimate, study finds - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Reuters reports that Zambia\u2019s debt to Chinese public and private lenders is $6.6 billion, almost double the amount discl ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-chinese-debt-nearly-twice-official-estimate-study-finds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zambia\u2019s Chinese debt nearly twice official estimate, study finds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reuters reports that Zambia\u2019s debt to Chinese public and private lenders is $6.6 billion, almost double the amount discl ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-chinese-debt-nearly-twice-official-estimate-study-finds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-28T20:37:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-28T21:06:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2021\/09\/img-615383c51cd89.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"324\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-chinese-debt-nearly-twice-official-estimate-study-finds#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-chinese-debt-nearly-twice-official-estimate-study-finds\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Zambia\u2019s Chinese debt nearly twice official estimate, study finds\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-28T20:37:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-28T21:06:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-chinese-debt-nearly-twice-official-estimate-study-finds\"},\"wordCount\":403,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-chinese-debt-nearly-twice-official-estimate-study-finds#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2021\/09\/img-615383c51cd89.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zambia\",\"Chinese loan\",\"International Monetary Fund\",\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-chinese-debt-nearly-twice-official-estimate-study-finds#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-chinese-debt-nearly-twice-official-estimate-study-finds\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-chinese-debt-nearly-twice-official-estimate-study-finds\",\"name\":\"Zambia\u2019s Chinese debt nearly twice official estimate, study finds - 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