China Finances Rehab of Tan-Zam Railway

 Nanyang Technological University posted on 28 October 2024 an article titled "China to Revive East African Railway as Scramble over African Resources Intensifies."  

China signed a memorandum of conversation to upgrade at a cost of more than $1 billion the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) originally constructed with an interest free loan from China in the 1970s.  The line, designed to move copper from Zambia to the port of Dar es Salaam on Tanzania's Indian Ocean coast, has deteriorated and is operating at a fraction of its potential.

TAZARA will also compete in the years ahead with a new US and EU funded railway that will move minerals from the mining areas of Zambia and the DRC to the Angolan port of Lobito on the Atlantic coast.

China Reviews $1.3 Billion in Loans for Ethiopia

 The Addis Standard published on 21 October 2023 an article titled "Ethiopian Authorities Discuss Release of $1.3 Billion Suspended Loan with Chinese Counterparts."

Chinese financial institutions have suspended the disbursement of loans totaling $1.3 billion for at least 8 infrastructure projects pending renegotiation of Ethiopia's debt restructuring with the Chinese government.  Chinese banks did not disburse any loans to Ethiopia in 2021 and 2022 and only $26 million so far in 2023.  The Ethiopian government seems optimistic that Chinese banks will release more of the funding.  

Is China's Loan for Ugandan Airport Predatory?

 AidData published in February 2022 a study titled "Is Beijing a Predatory Lender? New Evidence from a Previously Undisclosed Loan Contract for the Entebbe International Airport Upgrading and Expansion Project" by Brad Parks, Ammar A. Malik, and Alex Wooley.

AidData's publication of the final, unredacted version of a controversial $200 million loan contract between China Export-Import Bank and the government of Uganda for the Entebbe International Airport Upgrading and Expansion Project reveals that the airport itself is not a source of collateral that the lender can seize in the event of default.

Instead, China Export-Import Bank required the borrower to provide a fully liquid cash deposit in an escrow account that the lender can unilaterally seize in the event the government of Uganda defaults on its repayment obligations.  AidData concluded that Chinese lenders have no desire to seize assets but they are looking out for their own interests. This loan contract does not support the charge of predatory lending but does contain intrusive conditions.  

Kenya Wants to Renegotiate Railroad Debt with China

 Global Construction Review published on 25 September 2020 an article titled "'We Are Not Able to Pay': Kenyan MPs Urge Renegotiation of Chinese Rail Debt" by David Rogers.

The China financed and built standard gauge railway between Mombasa and Nairobi was losing money even before COVID-19.  The pandemic has worsened the financial situation of the railway and members of Kenya's parliament are now asking China to renegotiate the repayment terms.