Weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari called on bilateral and multilateral creditors to cancel the debt owed due to the impact of coronavirus on the economy in Africa, it has been revealed that China will not cancel or forgive the debt owed by Nigeria and other African countries.

The COVID-19 outbreak which started in Wuhan, China, has had an adverse effect on the global economy, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stating that Nigeria's economy will experience the worse this year and Fitch Ratings downgrading Nigeria's economic growth. The COVID-19 outbreak had made loan even more necessary for countries like Nigeria.

How much is Africa and Nigeria owing China?

The economic fallout of the coronavirus had pushed for the call that local and international bilateral and multilateral creditors offer debt relief for African countries. While China is considering the debt relief request, the Asian country will not be willing to cancel the $152 billion debt African countries owed it.

China is the largest bilateral creditor in Africa, having started to focus on the continent from 2000 till 2018. China also accounts for 10% of Nigeria's $27.6 billion external debt stock. Nigeria owes China about $3.1 billion Recall that the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, had stated in February that due to the lack of interest from the World Bank and the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) to offer Nigeria loan during the recession, the Federal Government approached China for a $17 billion loans.

Nigeria had sought the $17 billion loan from China in order to balance its loan of $29.96 billion which was still around $22.8 billion at the time.

Why China won't cancel the debt

While reacting to the likely position of China, the Head of China Africa.... https://allnews.ng/news/here-s-why-china-will-not-forgive-nigeria-other-african-countries-debt

It is tomfoolery to believe youths are the leaders of tomorrow. The grey-beared have occupied those positions.