China’s lending to Africa may have grown rapidly in the past two decades but Beijing is not the main cause of debt distress in sub-Saharan Africa, the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its Regional Economic Outlook for Africa report.

China’s share of the total sub-Saharan Africa external public debt rose from less than 2 per cent before 2005 to about 17 per cent – or US$134 billion – in 2021, according to the IMF. The World Bank’s International Debt Report said sub-Saharan Africa’s total external debt stood at US$790 billion in 2021, a figure that more than doubled in about a decade.

Source: SCMP Sportlight