African Debt and China

International Policy Digest posted on 18 May 2018 a commentary titled "In Africa, Chinese Largesse Comes at a Price" by Max Wirtz, a German national living in Switzerland.

This is one of the growing number of commentaries warning about increasing African debt, in this case debt owed to China. China has become at 14 percent the single largest source of bilateral debt contracted by countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa. Of course, this means 86 percent of the debt comes from other sources. The author looks particularly at debt issues confronting Angola, Kenya, and Djibouti.

This piece should be read in tandem with a Brookings assessment dated 11 January 2018 titled "China and Africa: Crouching Lion, Retreating Dragon?" by Wenjie Chen and Roger Nord, both with the IMF.