People gather to buy charcoal at a busy market in Lusaka, Zambia, July, 5, 2021. In June 2023, Zambia has reached a deal with China and several other government creditors to restructure $6.3 billion in loans. Spokesperson of China International Development Cooperation AgencySource: X, Global Times, April 18, 2024Earlier this month, the head of the U.S.
China offers terms similar on the surface with most commercial loans but imposes shorter maturities and higher interest rate. For example, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund generally provideat rates around 0 to 1.5%. China’s loan interest rates are generally around 2% to 3%. The landlocked country is ready to move on from “a failed economic development model based on borrowing billions of dollars of debt from creditors like China,” the country's finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane told theSri Lanka became the first state in the Asia-Pacific region to enter sovereign default in the 21st century.