Zambia's New President Discovers The Country Owes China Double What The Previous Government Said It Owe

A Bank of China billboard, left, at Kenneth Kaunda international airport in Lusaka. Photograph: Bloomberg  

Bloomberg: Zambian Debt to Chinese Lenders May Be More Than Disclosed 

Zambia may owe Chinese creditors almost double the amount the government has previously disclosed, complicating restructuring negotiations, a study found. 

The Johns Hopkins’ China Africa Research Initiative estimates the nation’s total liabilities to Chinese lenders at $6.6 billion and spread across at least 18 creditors, according to a report published Tuesday. That compares with an official figure of $3.4 billion. 

The finding doesn’t mean that Zambia’s total external public and publicly guaranteed debt is bigger than the $14.3 billion reported as of December 2020, according to the report by Deborah Brautigam and Yinxuan Wang. It does show, however, that the government wasn’t transparent about how much of that was owed to Chinese creditors, they said. Zambia’s government says it followed normal procedures. 

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Update #1: Zambia's Chinese debt nearly twice official estimate, study finds (Reuters) 

Update #2: Zambia said to owe far more to China than government says (Business Standard) 

Update #3: Analysts Say Zambia Concealed Half of its $6.6 Billion Debt to China (Breitbart)  

WNU Editor: Why is no one surprise.

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