Spokesman: International Financial Institutions and Foreign Creditors Have More Responsibility Than China to Alleviate Africa’s Debt Pressures

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China is not to blame for the burgeoning financial problems in Africa. ” Not a single African country had debt difficulties due to its cooperation with China,” he said in response to a question from Hunan Radio and Television at the regular press briefing in Beijing.

Wang then went on to criticize propagators of the U.S.-led “debt trap” theory by citing research done by Professor Deborah Brautigam, director of the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University.

He added that international financial institutions like the World Bank and the IMF, along with private bondholders, bear a much larger responsibility than China in resolving the financial crisis: “If we break down African countries’ foreign debt, multilateral financial institutions and commercial creditors hold more than three-quarters of the total, and so bear a greater responsibility for debt relief.”

Read the full transcript of Wang’s comments on the debt trap issue.

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The post Spokesman: International Financial Institutions and Foreign Creditors Have More Responsibility Than China to Alleviate Africa’s Debt Pressures appeared first on The China Africa Project.

source https://chinaafricaproject.com/2021/02/24/spokesman-international-financial-institutions-and-foreign-creditors-have-more-responsibility-than-china-to-alleviate-africas-debt-pressures/