Reuters published on 14 August 2026 an article titled "Kenya Eyes Debut Chinese Bond Market Issuance This Fiscal Year."
Kenya is considering issuing its first ever bond on the Chinese domestic debt market known as panda bonds, as it seeks to raise $300 million to plug a gaping hole in its budget for this fiscal year.
Kenya has a budget deficit of 5.5 percent of gross domestic product for this fiscal year. It is seeking financing from a variety of other sources.
Ethiopia Insight published on 5 September 2025 a commentary titled "Ethiopia's Debt: When Reform Becomes Punishment" by Eyob Yohannes, a writer based in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is caught between a history of reckless borrowing and foreign imposed belt tightening, resulting in price volatility and diminished purchasing power. The painful economic reforms occur during a period of internal political conflict.
The Center for Global Development published on 12 September 2024 a proposal titled "At FOCAC, China Renewed Commitments to Africa. Here's What Needs to Happen Next" by W. Gyude Moore.
The author proposes that China expand the $2 billion Chinese-created Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF) administered by the African Development Bank and embrace a wider slate of participants to enable continued and sustainable lending from China to Africa. More specifically, he suggests that China expand AGTF capital to $5 billion and reauthorize it for another 10 years.
The Voice of America published on 28 June 2024 an article titled "Deadly Kenya Protests Spurred by International Debt Woes" by Kate Bartlett.
Deadly protests in Kenya resulted following parliamentary action to pass legislation for raising taxes to pay for debt servicing. Most of Kenya's debt is owed to international financial institutions and holders of Eurobonds. China has provided Kenya more loans than any other single country but Nairobi's debt to Beijing is well below what it owes to all other sources of loans.
India's Firstpost posted on 26 June 2024 a 6-minute video titled "Is Chinese Debt the Reason Kenya Wants to Raise Taxes?"
The video spells out the background of Kenya's $76 billion public debt, noting that much of it is owned to the World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank, and reimbursement of Eurobonds. But China is the single largest bilateral holder of Kenyan debt and Nairobi faces an upcoming repayment to Beijing of $1.2 billion that it is hard pressed to manage.
Kenya's Business Daily published on 24 October 2023 an article titled "Treasury: What Kenya Got from China" by Kepha Muiruri.
While Kenya has benefited from Chinese financing of major infrastructure projects, it means that China is the third largest holder of Kenya's external debt after the World Bank and Eurobonds. An article on President William Ruto's attendance at the Belt and Road Initiative Forum in Beijing also charts Kenya-China trade since 2018, which documents a huge and consistent Kenyan trade deficit with China.
The Atlantic Council published on 12 July 2023 an analysis titled "Progress on Debt Restructuring Provides a Glimmer of Hope for Developing Countries" by Jeremy Mark and Vasuki Shastry.
The analysis looks particularly at the role of China in recent debt restructuring. It includes an especially useful chart that illustrates the total debt by African countries, divided by class of creditor.
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.
The China Global South Project published on 29 November 2022 a commentary titled "Letter to the Editor: A Critique of 'Chinese Summer in Finance' Views on Chinese Debt in Africa" by Thierry Pairault, National Centre of Scientific Research and EHESS Research Centre on Modern and Contemporary China.
The author counters the argument of leading Chinese experts on African debt that because African countries had in earlier years borrowed heavily from other countries and international financial organizations, China should not be held accountable for their current debt problems. The author asks: is being the latest significant lender really a valid excuse? As of 2020, 30 percent of the public and publicly guaranteed debt of sub-Saharan African countries was owed to bondholders, 20 percent to the World bank, and 17 percent to China, the largest bilateral holder of African debt.
The London School of Economics blog published on 1 August 2022 a commentary titled "How the US-China Rivalry Is Undermining Efforts to Address Africa's Debt" by Harry Verhoeven, Columbia University, and Nicolas Lippolis, University of Oxford.
By imposing initiatives that do not acknowledge China's incentives or concerns, Western powers are undermining efforts at debt resolution, while failing to address the root causes of Africa's over-indebtedness. Eurobonds have been the chief factor in the growth of African external debt.
The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) published on 14 January 2021 a commentary titled "Zambia Defaults, Economically and Politically" by Peter Fabricius, ISS consultant.
Last November, Zambia defaulted on a $42.5 million Eurobond payment. Zambia's debt problem is serious. Non-Chinese bondholders hold some $3.5 billion in Zambian debt. Estimates of the scale of the Chinese debt vary widely, anywhere between $3 billion and $20 billion. Even the Zambian government may not know the precise amount.
