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China owed $385bn – including ‘hidden debt’ from poorer nations, says report
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| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Sep 30, 2021 10:26am |
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| Category | Analysis |
| Author | Helen Davidson |
| News Date | Thursday, September 30, 2021 04:25:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Researchers have identified debts of at least $385bn (£286bn) owed by 165 countries to China for ”belt and road initiative” (BRI) projects, with loans systematically underreported to international bodies such as the World Bank.
The four-year study by US-based research lab AidData said the debt burdens were kept off the public balance sheets through the use of special purpose and semi-private loans, and were “substantially larger than research institutions, credit rating agencies, or intergovernmental organisations with surveillance responsibilities previously understood”.
It found 42 low-to-middle income countries (LMICs) had debt exposure to China exceeding 10% of their GDP, including Laos, Papua New Guinea, the Maldives, Brunei, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Laos had significant proportions of its debt classed by AidData as “hidden”, the report revealed. The $5.9bn China-Laos railway project is funded entirely with unofficial debt equivalent to about a third of its GDP. |
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