How much money does Africa owe China?
Chinese Debt in Africa
Moreover, for most at‑risk sovereigns in Africa, China holds a significant proportion of external debt and so would wield considerable influence in any negotiations. African countries' stock of debt owed to China has risen dramatically over the past decade, in line with an upward trend in borrowing since 2010.
- China's biggest borrowers. ...
- Belarus: $11 billion (£9bn) total debt. ...
- Turkmenistan: $12.2 billion (£10bn) total debt. ...
- Kenya: $12.7 billion (£10.2bn) total debt. ...
- Democratic Republic of the Congo: $13.1 billion (£10.5bn) total debt.
Recent data, derived from the 2018 PEW. Research Centre and released last year, highlights.
The exact amount of Chinese aid to Africa can vary from year to year and across different countries, making it challenging to provide an exact figure. However, according to official Chinese data, between 2000 and 2019, China provided a total of $153 billion in loans to African countries.
Understanding Africa's Debt Sustainability Issue
Data from the World Bank shows that 49 African countries owe 39% of their debt to multilateral institutions, 35% to private creditors (excluding Chinese private creditors), and 12% of the debt burden on the continent is owed to China and Chinese lenders.
New data released by the World Bank in June 2020 suggest that Chinese lending is over 25 percent of the debt stock in seven countries in Africa deemed to be at risk of, or already in, debt distress: Djibouti (57 percent), Angola (49 percent), Republic of Congo (45 percent), Cameroon (32 percent), Ethiopia (32 percent), ...
The United States pays interest on approximately $850 billion in debt held by the People's Republic of China. China, however, is currently in default on its sovereign debt held by American bondholders.
| Characteristic | National debt in relation to GDP |
|---|---|
| Macao SAR | 0% |
| Brunei Darussalam | 2.06% |
| Kuwait | 3.08% |
| Hong Kong SAR | 4.27% |
In total, other territories hold about $7.4 trillion in U.S. debt. Japan owns the most at $1.1 trillion, followed by China, with $859 billion, and the United Kingdom at $668 billion. In isolation, this $7.4 trillion amount is a lot, said Scott Morris, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development.
How much is US owing China?
China is one of the United States's largest creditors, owning about $859.4 billion in U.S. debt. 1 However, it does not own the most U.S. debt of any foreign country.
Angola was the main borrower from China in Africa between 2000 and 2020. Loan commitments signed between Chinese financiers and the Angolan government summed 42.6 billion U.S. dollars. In the same period, China lent around 160 billion U.S. dollars to African countries.
China is the world's largest bilateral creditor. Ghana owes China $1.7 billion, according to the International Institute of Finance, a financial services trade association focused on emerging markets.
Other explanations for Chinese construction dominance veer towards governance, with accusations of corrupt payments and diplomatic arm-twisting. But a good part of the explanation for China's outsize role may be that the country's construction firms are simply very competitive.
China's Influence in Sub-Saharan Africa:
China pledged $40 billion during the 2021 FOCAC. While some commitments scaled back from previous years, China promised additional support to combat COVID-19 and announced a goal to increase its imports from Africa to a total of $300 billion in the next three years.
Her research showed that by the end of 2014, Chinese investors had acquired about 240,000 ha of farmland in Africa, Brautigam said. Deals often stalled because overly ambitious investors saw what they thought was unoccupied land, and politicians seeking economic growth welcomed their unrealistic plans, she said.
Over this period, China financed 15 percent, much more than the 3 percent from the multilateral development banks. Africa's rising debt can also be attributed to current low global interest rate environment, forcing the private markets to search for higher yielding assets.
United States. The United States boasts both the world's biggest national debt in terms of dollar amount and its largest economy, which resolves to a debt-to GDP ratio of approximately 128.13%. The United States' government's spending exceeds its income most years, and the US has not had a budget surplus since 2001.
How much do African countries owe? Africa's debt is at its highest level in over a decade. As a result of COVID-19, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and soaring inflation, African countries have had to take on even more debt, and now 20 low income African countries are either bankrupt or at high risk of debt distress.
The total area of Africa is approximately 1.2 billion acres, of which 71% is covered by land and 29% is covered by water. The total area of land that China owns in Africa is approximately 186,000 square miles (465,000 square kilometers). This is around 7% of the total land area in Africa.
What is the richest country in Africa?
Russia divested from all US bond instruments, the only debts the Federal government has, and still owes the US and other investors nearly 300 billion US Dollars. The national debt in Russia was forecast to increase between 2023 and 2028 by in total 16.1 billion U.S.
As a result, totals from January 2023 are lower than reported. As of January 2023, the five countries owning the most US debt are Japan ($1.1 trillion), China ($859 billion), the United Kingdom ($668 billion), Belgium ($331 billion), and Luxembourg ($318 billion).
A sizeable sell-off of Treasury securities by China would almost certainly lead to an appreciation of China's currency and depreciation of the dollar. This is more likely to help the United States than to hurt us, contrary to the claims of many observers.
Debt as a share of GDP has risen to about the same level as in the United States, while in dollar terms China's total debt ($47.5 trillion) is still markedly below that of the United States (close to $70 trillion). As for non-financial corporate debt, China's 28 percent share is the largest in the world.
