Reuters published on 20 December 2022 an article titled "Ghana to Default on Most External Debt as Economic Crisis Worsens" by Christian Akorlie and Cooper Inveen.
Ghana's external debt stands at $28.4 billion. Except for payments on multilateral debt, new debts taken after 19 December or debts related to certain short-term trade facilities, Ghana announced that it will suspend payments on the remainder. Eurobonds and multilateral debt such as that with the World Bank account for $21.2 billion or about 75 percent of the external debt. China holds only $1.7 billion or about 6 percent of the total.
Comment: This is a reminder that the debt issue in Africa is complicated and varies widely from country to country. While China holds high percentages of the external debt of several African countries, it is a small or modest player in many others.
