The Council on Foreign Relations blog posted on 28 December 2023 a commentary titled "Ethiopia in Troubled Waters" by Michelle Gavin.
The author argues that Ethiopia ended 2023 on a sour note underscored by diminishing trust in the Ethiopian government as the year progressed.
Reuters published on 26 December 2023 an article titled "Ethiopia Becomes Africa's Latest Sovereign Default" by Rachel Savage and Karin Strohecker.
Ethiopia failed to make a $33 million "coupon" payment this week on its $1 billion international government bond. Ethiopia joins Zambia and Ghana in a full-scale "Common Framework" restructuring.
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 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.
