INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Debt owed by various countries, especially in South Asia and Africa, to China has multiplied in recent years
China is either the sole or the major lender for the majority of these countries
In other words, these nations owe a large share of their external debt only to China.Only the top 20 countries that owe the most debt to
China in absolute terms in 2022 are depicted
External debt stock is the debt owed by a country to non-residents repayable in currency, goods, or services
It is the sum of all public, publicly guaranteed, and private non-guaranteed long-term debt, and short term debts.The debt owed by South
Asian, African, and South American countries to China increased significantly post the 2010s
1999 to improve Chinese investment and lending abroad
By the end of 2022, low-and-middle-income countries owed China a total of $180 billion
development cooperative owned by 189 nations, was just a little higher at $223 billion.Interestingly, China has given a big chunk of its new
loans in recent years to neighbouring countries, while its loans to African and South American economies have fallen
Most of the debts owed to China are in the form of loans for infrastructure projects.However, in recent years, China has cut back its
overall lending due to two factors
And some of the countries it lent to are defaulting on their payments because the investments funded by China have not been financially
successful.After months of food and fuel shortage, Sri Lanka defaulted on foreign debt in 2022
share is even higher at around 57%
And most of these nations owe a large share of bilateral debt to China.Notably, China too, during high levels of economic expansion in the
1990s and 2000s, increasingly accumulated foreign debt from countries such as Japan, Germany and France
