BUMPS IN CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD IN AFRICA

Countries in Africa have accepted Chinese investment and infrastructure projects to the tune of 120 billion dollars.
A lot of that is in the form of debt which is weighing down nations like Tanzania, Zambia and others.
With the Chinese virus has come a worldwide economic cataclysm that is doing nothing to alleviate debt servicing problems that were already a huge problem noted by the International Monetary Fund in 2019.
At that time IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva voiced concerns about the ability of some African countries to pay back their debts.
According to WorldFinance, 40 percent of African countries are in debt distress compared with 2013, when 20 percent were at high risk.
A 13 October op-ed in China Daily, though friendly to China’s version of events, couldn’t help but note that a growing number of Africans are bristling at what they see as a neo-colonialist Chinese strategy.
Zambia, for example, owes more than 13 billion, and its copper resources basically are being used to try to service debt for projects that haven’t substantially improved the country’s economy.
According to the China Daily op-ed:
“Today, there is barely an African country where China has not invested heavily, partly but not solely as a result of the Belt and Road Initiative. Admittedly, much of this has taken the form of loans for infrastructure projects－deep-water ports, roads, railways and dams. But there is no evidence that this is a wily scheme to try to ‘buy’ the continent.”
But debt facts tell an arguably different story. Moguldom.com in 2020 noted that African debtor countries mostly consist of resource-rich, but otherwise poor nations. They named 10 countries in hoc, among them:

• The Democratic Republic of Congo, which owes 3.4 billion dollars, and has exploitable resources including diamonds, gold cobalt, timber and oil. The country agreed to exchange mineral resources for Chinese loans
• Zambia’s debt to China, ranging between 6 and 10 billion in recent years, has represented as much as 35 percent of its GDP foreign debt. Africa’s second-largest copper producer, the country may lose state-owned businesses like electricity company Zesco to the Chinese if it defaults on its debts, according to The Guardian.
• Nigeria is drastically in debt to China, to the tune of 81 billion
• Ghana, a country which is among better performing economies on the continent, cut a deal to have China finance 2 billion worth of rail, road and bridge networks, after already owing 1.5 billion. In return for the further debt, Ghana agreed to give China 5 percent of its bauxite resources, according to CNBC; bauxite is a major source of aluminum.

Last month in Zambia the issue of Chinese debt and influence was a major factor in elections. Their incumbent president was deposed. 
New President Hakainde Hichilema quickly affirmed his intention to restructure Zambia’s foreign debt to China, and he also said he wants to restart talks with the IMF and the World Bank about dealing with the debt problems.
As riots and coups of recent months highlight dissatisfactions and a lack of economic progress wide enough to produce domestic tranquility in many regions, China has taken to deflecting blame for critiques of its role as “Western misinformation campaigns.”
The China Daily op-ed found a sympathetic African voice to posit Zambia’s political upheaval as wrongly targeted.
Zambian political commentator Buchizya Mseteka said of the colonialist accusations that were a lightning rod in the election:
“China’s commitment to Africa has been long-lasting… The trick is to create a partnership of equals and Africa has an important (role) to play in that. Africans need to grow up and stop blaming China for their own inadequacies. China wants reliable and honest partners.”