Heavily Indebted Poor Countries with Loans from China

 Visual Capitalist published on 11 December 2023 a graphic titled "Developing Countries Receiving the Most Loans from China" by Marcus Lu, Bruno Venditti, and Bhabna Banerjee.

Fourteen of the fifteen Most Highly Indebted Countries (HIPC) with the largest amount of loans from China are in Africa. In order of most loans from China, the countries are Ghana, Guinea, Ethiopia, Tanzania, DRC, Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Sudan, Zambia, Bolivia, Chad, Senegal, Niger, Mali, and Cameroon.

Comment:  This list of countries is receiving pushback in some quarters, citing the fact that Angola, which has more Chinese loans than any other African country, is absent from the list and the loan figure for Ghana appears to be excessively high.  While the amount of money China has loaned to Ghana does look to be much too high, Angola is excluded because it is NOT a highly indebted poor country.  It is oil rich and, so far, has been able to repay its loans.  

State Formation in Somalia

The Royal United Services Institute published on 10 June 2022 an analysis titled "Ballots, Bullets and Building Blocks: State Formation in Somalia" by Michael Jones. 

The author concluded that the recent election and change of leadership has shifted Somalia from acute to chronic crisis, but in doing so it has at least helped strengthen the normative tissue necessary for reform.  

New World Bank Data on China's Loans to Poor Countries

The Diplomat published on 24 June 2020 an analysis titled "Putting a Dollar Amount on China's Loans to the Developing World" by Yufan Huang and Deborah Brautigam.

The World Bank recently published the specific debt statistics as of 2018 for 68 low-income countries eligible for the Debt Service Suspension Initiative.  The statistics included 37 African countries.  China made up 21 percent of the 68 countries' total public external debt.  For the African countries, it was 22 percent.  China was the biggest bilateral official lender for 30 of the 37 African countries. 

African Debt: China and the Rest

The South China Morning Post published on 10 May 2020 an article titled "Coronavirus: Africa's Debt Problems Must Not Be Used as a Political Football, Experts Say" by Jevans Nyabiage.

The article underscores that African debt is held by a variety of countries, international financial institutions and private banks, not just China.

Rebuilding Somalia

The International Monetary Fund's March 2020 issue of Finance and Development containains an interview titled "Rebuilding Somalia" with Somali Finance Minister Abdirahman Dualeh Beileh, who has three degrees from the University of Wisconsin. He provides an optimistic view of Somalia's future.

Progress on Debt Relief for Somalia

Ventures Africa posted on 20 December 2019 an article titled "IMF Board Approves Financing Package to Offset Somalia's Debt" by Ishioma Emi.

Somalia has about $5 billion in external debt, accounting for 100 percent of its GDP. The International Monetary Fund has approved a financing plan that will help cover its share of debt relief for Somalia.

US Bureaucratic Snafu Jeopardizes Debt Relief for Somalia

Foreign Policy posted on 11 December 2019 an article titled "U.S. Bureaucratic Blunder Could Cost Somalia Desperately Needed Debt Relief" by Robbie Gramer and Keith Johnson.

A bureaucratic failure in Washington to write off Somalia's debt to the United States now jeopardizes implementation of a broader debt relief program for Somalia under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative.

Is Ethiopia's Sovereign Debt Sustainable?

Pambazuka News published on 5 November 2014 an analysis titled "Is Ethiopia's Sovereign Debt Sustainable?" by Seid Hassan at Murray State University, Minga Negash at Metropolitan State University, Tesfaye T. Lemma at the University of the District of Columbia, and Abu Girma Moges at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. 

The authors concluded that the external debt of Ethiopia has returned to and even surpassed the level where it was before the debt-write-offs.  Ethiopia's external public debt should be a concern in that its growth has been dramatic and has not been matched by a vibrant and diversified export sector.