China facing the problem of unsustainable African debts

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African debt is not immune to the battle for influence between Washington and Beijing. During his first trip to Africa in mid-November, the US foreign minister, Antony Blinken, shot an arrow in the direction of China, claiming that the United States was investing in the continent without “To weigh him down with a debt that he could not manage”. Understand: Beijing would have dragged Africa into the trap of over-indebtedness by opening the floodgates of credit to keep it in a relationship of dependence – an accusation repeatedly made under former US President Donald Trump.

The Chinese reaction was quick, through a column published in the daily Global Times, close to power, regretting that “Mutually beneficial cooperation [entre l’Afrique et la Chine] has become the target of attacks by the United States and some of its allies ”.

Read also: Getting Africa out of the debt trap

African public debt doubled between 2008 and 2019, from 28% to 56% of gross domestic product (GDP). The Covid-19 crisis has further aggravated the situation. The number of African nations classified by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at high risk of debt distress has increased from six to thirteen and that of nations in crisis from two to five in just six years. Around thirty countries have benefited, within the framework of the G20, from a suspension of the service of their debts until the end of 2021.

Geopolitical benefits

A significant part of the increase in African bilateral debt, that is to say state to state, comes from China. As recalled by a note from the Directorate General of the Treasury published in November, “China has become in twenty years the main donor to sub-Saharan Africa, holding 62.1% of its bilateral external debt in 2020, against 3.1% in 2000”. In some countries like Angola or Zambia, it even represents more than 80% of this debt.

This financial assistance offers him geopolitical benefits in return. The contracts signed by the China Development Bank include, for example, reimbursement clauses in the event of an action “Contrary to the interests of China”, an expression with blurred outlines. Recently, Beijing has benefited from the support of African countries to place its nationals at the head of four UN agencies.

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