Nigeria Offers Lessons for Interaction with China

 The Diplomat published on 10 November 2022 a commentary titled "What Nigeria Can Teach Us About China's Belt and Road" by Tola Amusan, University of Otago in New Zealand.

The author argues that the relationship between China and any single African nation is severely unbalanced in favor of Beijing.  Nigeria is a case study for what happens when an African government fails to exert its influence to shape its relationship with China to meet the needs of local people.  The political elites in countries like Nigeria are partially to blame for their lack of agency.  

Thirty Percent of Kenya's Debt Repayment Owed to China

 Business Daily published on 22 February 2021 an article titled "Public Debt Repayment Hits Sh1trn for First Time" by Constant Munda.  

Kenya's external debt repayments in fiscal year 2021/2022 reach a record high of $3.7 billion.  About 30 percent is owed to two Chinese banks--Export Import Bank and China Development Bank.  

China's Debt Relief in Africa and COVID-19

 Development Reimagined published in December 2020 a study titled "COVID-19: China's Debt Relief" by the Oxford China Africa Consultancy.

The study looks at developing countries globally, but gives special attention to Africa.  African countries with the most bilateral debt owed to China over the next 5 years are in descending order: Angola ($15 billion), Kenya, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Zambia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Ghana, Uganda, Djibouti, and Sudan ($1 billion).  As a percent of total external debt, the African countries with the highest bilateral debt to China are in descending order: Djibouti (77 percent), Zimbabwe, Republic of Congo, Angola, Guinea, Uganda, Cameroon, Togo, Kenya, and Comoro Islands (30 percent).

The study concludes that China can play an important role in relieving African debt but argues that multilateral lenders, other countries, and their private banks must also find ways to do their part by providing debt relief themselves and reassessing how they see debt risks going forwards.  

Djibouti's China Debt (in French)

Thierry Pairault, director of research emeritus at the National Center for Scientific Research, posted on 23 July 2020 an analysis titled "La Dette Choinoise de Djibouti."

The author looks at Djibouti's excessive debt from the stand point of a country with a strong economy (China) and a country in difficulty (Djibouti).