Debt diplomacy

Your account has been succesfully created.

Subscribe now

running story

AFRICA

Because the fight to contain it has involved the use of public funds, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to an explosion of debt throughout Africa, forcing countries to seek a moratorium from the G20 and bring in consultants to help them negotiate with their sovereign, private sector and institutional creditors. In the West, the growth of African countries' debt has led to fierce competition between private and public sector creditors to obtain repayment of their debts. China is also involved but has shown little inclination so far to reschedule African countries' debts.

Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against Covid-19, June 17 2020. © Ding Haitao/Xinhua News Agency/Newscom/MaxPPP

CONGO Finance 10/10/2022

Deutsche Bank and Citigroup get involved in Brazzaville's debt restructuring

The two banks, which specialise in restructuring sovereign debt on the bond markets, are preparing to issue loans on the financial markets for the Congolese state.

CONGO Finance Politics 01/07/2022

Rothschild lends Brazzaville helping hand with its debts Free

The advisory bank Rothschild is supporting the Congolese government in the refinancing of its debts with a variety of traders, totalling over a billion dollars. Negotiations with the IMF are meanwhile being taken care of by the prime minister's advisers with the help of the Ivorian banker Ibrahim Magessa.

CONGO Politics 18/05/2022

Congolese Finance Minister Rigobert Roger Andely.

Andely turns his attention to the debt of public sector companies Free

After having negotiated debt agreements with the Republic of the Congo's bilateral partners and trading groups, finance and budget minister Rigobert Roger Andely has turned his attention to state-owned companies. First in line will be the all-powerful Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo, which has contracted debts totalling more than $2bn.

TUNISIA Diplomacy 02/02/2022

Emmanuel Moulin, head of the French Treasury and president of the Club de Paris.

Paris sends its Treasury chief Emmanuel Moulin on special mission to Tunis

The French Treasury head has reiterated France's support for the reforms Tunis must undertake in order to secure IMF loans. Moulin also chairs the Paris Club of international creditors, and while he did not travel in that capacity, the restructuring of Tunisia's debt seems to be on the cards.

CAPE VERDE PORTUGAL Finance Diplomacy 20/12/2021

Lisbon gives Praia another break over debt to maintain influence

In September, Lisbon froze the servicing of Cape Verde's debt to the Portuguese state. Now, at its own expense, it has extended its repayment guarantee over Praia's loans from Portuguese banks.

CHAD Commodity traders Politics 08/11/2021

Glencore appoints advisers for debt relief talks with N'Djamena

Chad's biggest creditor, oil trading house Glencore, has enlisted an advisory bank to guide it through talks on restructuring N'Djamena's debt under the aegis of the Paris Club.

TUNISIA Diplomacy 26/10/2021

Why Kais Saied skipped the Riyadh summit

Having failed to obtain a separate meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MbS), as well as with the Emirati delegation, Kaïs Saïed sent a representative to the Middle East Green Initiative Summit in Riyadh on 25 October.

TUNISIA Diplomacy 22/10/2021

Kais Saied seeks Saudi and UAE financial aid in Riyadh

Kaïs #Saied will attend Middle East Green Initiative Summit on 25 October, an environmental conference organised by Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.The Tunisian president hopes to secure substantial budgetary support from #SaudiArabia and #UAE.

SUDAN Diplomacy 14/10/2021

IMF's managing director Kristalina Georgieva with Sudanese prime minister Abdalla Hamdok.

World Bank and IMF dial back their involvement in Sudan's political transition

The World Bank and IMF have decided to step back a little from monitoring the political transition in Sudan now that the country is part of the heavily indebted poor countries initiative and negotiations on debt reduction are underway.

CHAD Business 12/10/2021

N'Djamena's forced march to settle its debt Free

Chad is scrambling to resolve the issue of its sovereign debt as quickly as possible before having to pay any further interest, which was suspended for almost two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

CENTRAL AFRICA CHAD CONGO Politics 08/09/2021

Glencore's two-speed debt talks with Chad and Congo

A creditor of both N'Djamena and Brazzaville, the oil trading giant is facing two very different situations. In Chad, which is seeking debt relief under the terms of the G20's "common framework", Glencore will have to accept the terms negotiated by the country's sovereign creditors.

SpotlightETHIOPIA Diplomacy 21/07/2021

Ethiopia to test new China-G20 compromise on debt

As Ethiopia's public debt weighs increasingly heavily on its public finances, the committee which will negotiate a reduction of its debt under the aegis of the Paris Club has still not been constituted. It is set to be one of the first to test the new debt treatment rules negotiated last year by China and the G20.

SUDAN Diplomacy 07/07/2021

Act II of debt reduction to play out in Paris next week

Late last month Sudan returned the IMF's and the World Bank's fold, winning an initial $2.4bn loan as well as integration into the HIPC debt reduction initiative. Next week it is due negotiate a mammoth debt write-off package in the French capital.

TUNISIA Politics 22/06/2021

Negotiations with IMF for $4bn loan still at an impasse

Neither President Kaïs Saïed nor the government of Hichem Mechichi have so far managed to come up with a reform plan which meets the conditions imposed by the IMF for granting a $4bn loan. In any case, the loan would barely enable Tunisia to cover its upcoming payment deadlines.

SpotlightSUDAN Business 06/05/2021

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok.

Paris conference gives Hamdok two days to win over creditors

Sudan's top lenders are due in the French capital on 17 May to decide whether to relieve Khartoum's debt.

AFRICA Diplomacy 03/05/2021

Will Beijing boycott Macron's Africa Summit?

The French president has been trying to get China on board his summit of African economies for months but Beijing has yet to RSVP his invitation. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken should represent Joe Biden at the 18 May event, to which several African heads of state have been hastily invited at the last minute.

CAPE VERDE Finance Business 01/04/2021

Cape Verde Prime Minister Jose Ulisses Correia e Silva.

Government looks to Caixa Geral de Depositos to restructure its debt

As Cape Verde struggles to pay off its creditors, the government led by PM Ulisses Correia is banking on the latest IMF report to allow it to contract new loans.

In Focus TUNISIA Politics 29/03/2021

Tunis tries to defuse its debt bomb to avoid going into default

Tunisia, which has been given an official warning by the IMF and had its credit status downgraded by the ratings agencies, is struggling to cope with an external debt which currently stands at close to 100% of its GDP and is weighing heavily on its finances.

SpotlightAFRICA Diplomacy 17/03/2021

Marathon debt cancellation talks under way ahead of summit season

The Paris summit on investing in Africa, which will largely focus on debt, and the World Bank and IMF spring meetings will take place in quick succession in the coming months. To prepare for these major gatherings, the IMF and G20 countries have started to tackle the thorny issue of debt reduction, a frequent source of disagreement with China.

SUDAN Business 15/03/2021

Hamdok under pressure to do away with debt

The prime minister's recent visits to Cairo and Riyadh were in part intended to enable Sudan to move forward on its debt. At a time when the country's finances are at their worst, Khartoum is grappling with the opposing forces of citizens' discontent and external pressure to carry out unpopular reforms.

CONGO Politics 04/03/2021

President of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso.

Sassou Nguesso banks on IMF thaw to gild his re-election

With three weeks to go until the presidential poll, the Congolese government is working hard to clinch a debt rescheduling agreement with Glencore and get the IMF to resume lending.

CAMEROON Business 02/03/2021

The Paul Biya stadium construction site.

Paul Biya Stadium plunges the country into further debt

After having pleaded for a suspension of interest payments on its sovereign debt with one hand, Cameroon is preparing with the other to call on the the banks to loan it more money to enable it to complete construction of the Paul Biya Stadium, which is due to be the centrepiece of next year's Africa Cup of Nations.

AFRICA Business Diplomacy 10/02/2021

China and G20 clash again over Africa's debt, this time about cancellation

G20 countries are preparing to extend for a second time the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) they established last year. But behind the scenes, China and the West are already at loggerheads over what comes next, namely debt cancellations.

CONGO Business 20/01/2021

Brazzaville flies solo in debt talks with traders

Under pressure from the IMF, which for the past 18 months has been blocking the second tranche of the $448.6m loan it approved in 2019, Congo is trying to revive talks with traders who have extended oil-backed loans to the country.

SpotlightAFRICA CHINA Politics 19/01/2021

On December 30, 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron took part in a videoconference bringing together his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and European representatives.

Macron and Biden want to force China to play ball on African debt

Following the explosion in African countries' public debt caused by Covid, the European Union and the United States want to force China to take part in the collective rescheduling process organised by the G20 and the Paris Club.

ZAMBIA Business 11/01/2021

Debt-ridden Lusaka opts for Highgate to burnish its international image

The Zambian government has recruited the London consultancy to manage its international communications on restructuring its external debt, which is estimated to stand at over $12bn.

WEST AFRICA Finance Business 18/12/2020

G20 debt moratorium ushers in golden age for sovereign advisor

By making the extension of its moratorium on sovereign debt in October conditional on beneficiary countries treating all their lenders with parity, the G20 has opened up fresh opportunities for advisory banks and law firms.

AFRICA Diplomacy 07/12/2020

Sovereign debt: Paris manoeuvres to involve Beijing in "new deal" with African states

While continuing to lobby for an extension to the G20 moratorium on sovereign debt, the Elysée is preparing to hold a summit in Paris in May on investment in Africa to which several dozen African heads of state will be invited.

AFRICA Diplomacy 04/12/2020

The ins and outs of extending G20 debt moratorium again

Lender states want the group of rich countries to again extend its Debt Service Suspension Initiative. France backs the move, but not everyone is on board.

ANGOLA Business 29/10/2020

Crack team of consultants goes to work on Angola's budget

Having negotiated a rescheduling of its debts with China Development Bank and obtained nearly a billion dollars from the IMF, Angola is relying on a top team of consultants to handle dealings with its two other Chinese creditors as well as auditing its external debt and developing trade with the United States.

MOZAMBIQUE Finance Diplomacy 21/10/2020

Former Prime Minister of Mozambique Luísa Diogo.

Luísa Diogo is ace up Nyusi's sleeve to negotiate with Paris Club

Former prime minister Luísa Diogo, who assumed a low profile after Nyusi became president, may not have figured in the official photos but she was the one who negotiated Mozambique's inclusion in the G20 public debt repayment moratorium.

DRC Mining 02/10/2020

A copper and cobalt mine operated by Sicomines in the DRC.

Sicomines: the EITI aims to find out if the DRC is able to pay its debt to China

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) will try to quickly discover if the mineral deposits mined by Sino-Congolese joint venture Sicomines are sufficent to enable the DRC to repay China's investment costs in the venture or if China should be given free access to other sites, as the agreement at the origin of the project provides.

CONGO LEBANON Business 19/08/2020

Nabih Berri, Lebanon's parliament speaker, has failed in his mediation between the Congolese president's office and the Lebanese CEO of Commisimpex, Mohsen Hojeij.

Commisimpex: godfather to Lebanon's Shiites fails to reconcile Hojeij and Sassou

The secret negotiations between Lebanese businessman Mohsen Hojeij and the Congolese president's office over their €1.2bn debt dispute were facilitated by the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri. Now weeks into the talks, revealed by Africa Intelligence, neither side is willing to budge.

CONGO Business 23/07/2020

Commisimpex Affair: As they battle it out in French courts, Hojeij and Sassou hold secret talks in Beirut

Engaged in extensive foreclosure operations in Paris, Lebanese entrepreneur Mohsen Hojeij, who is seeking to recover €1.2bn from Congo, is holding very hush-hush talks with the president's office.

SpotlightMOZAMBIQUE Finance Politics Business 17/07/2020

Adriano Maleiane, Mozambican minister of finance.

Maputo suspends eurobond repayments

For the second time since 2016, Mozambique has frozen its repayments to investors who bought in to its $900m eurobond.

ANGOLA Finance Politics 03/07/2020

Lourenço in two minds over G20 debt moratorium

Unlike Senegal, which will be a beneficiary of the public debt moratorium announced by the G20 in April, Angola might opt not to apply for the suspension of its public debt repayments.

WEST AFRICA Finance Business 22/06/2020

Governments seek guidance on hidden pitfalls of G20 debt moratorium

For African countries, taking advantage of the G20 moratorium on bilateral debt during the Covid-19 pandemic could lead to unforeseen consequences, especially in terms of their credit ratings. A number of banks and law firms have been guiding them through this financial minefield.

AFRICA Business 29/04/2020

Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Jacques Attali foretell the future of a post-Covid Africa

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the sovereign advisory market but consultancy heavyweights Jacques Attali and Dominique Strauss Kahn have been quick to adjust, vying for contracts to help states overwhelmed by the crisis.

WEST AFRICA Finance Politics 16/04/2020

African bankers Thiam, Kaberuka, Onkojo-Iwelea reinvent themselves as debt reduction crusaders

In a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, a small group of financiers are lobbying intensely to get holders of African eurobonds to postpone their redemption dates for two years. The campaign is as advantageous for those waging it, however, as it is for its potential beneficiaries.

Stay updated on this topic

Our other running stories

KENYA