Chinese lenders have extended $7.6 billion in pandemic debt relief, mainly to Africa

to Africa

Chinese lenders have provided at least $7.6 billion in debt relief to countries, mainly 

African nations, struggling during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new data analysis carried out by researchers at the China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, reported the South China Morning Post.

It found that most of that relief – about $6.2 billion – went to Angola and was provided by the China Development Bank (CDB) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). Angola has received about a third of all the loans advanced by China to African nations in the past two decades.

It said Chinese lenders had provided the debt relief in 2020 and this year via three channels: the Group of 20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) to help 37 poor countries cope with the pandemic; through debt cancellation under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC); and ad hoc relief from commercial banks.

In addition to the CDB and ICBC, Beijing’s two officially designated bilateral creditors – Export-Import Bank of China (Eximbank) and the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) – also provided debt relief.