Saudi Arabia has stood up for China in the face of criticism that its infrastructure spending has left low-income African and other countries crippled by debt, making them dependent on Beijing.
At the joint conference of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on Thursday in Marrakesh, Morocco, Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan stated, “Maybe it’s time to set the record straight.”
When people started to shy away from Africa, China took action. Africa will host China’s built infrastructure, which they are unable to transport back to China. When people didn’t willing to take the risks, China did.
Rather than genuinely provoking China, I believe we should demonstrate that they took the necessary actions not only to serve other countries but also to further their own interests, al-Jadaan stated.
He was participating in a panel discussion in Marrakesh alongside the leaders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as Situmbeko Musokotwane, the Minister of Finance and National Planning for Zambia. On the panel, China was not represented.
China is the largest sovereign debt creditor in the world, in part because of the infrastructure projects it has undertaken as part of its flagship Belt and Road Initiative during the past ten years. Opponents claim that the enormous project benefits Chinese companies, many of which are state-owned, while forcing poor nations to take on large debt.
Al-Jadaan remarked of China, “They are taking a risk — a very high risk — which they are just collecting on that risk.” “We should just work with them, love them, and try to make the common framework function,” the speaker said.
“We should just show China as much love as we can, for the sake of the low-income countries, who need to find solutions for their debt,” he continued, “instead of just provoking them and actually harming the low-income countries which need their help.”
China has been criticised by some, including U.S. officials, for refusing to take losses on loans unless private-sector creditors and multilateral development institutions also accept losses. As a result, Beijing has occasionally held direct discussions with debtor nations.
China’s foreign ministry announced on Tuesday that the Export-Import Bank of China had tentatively struck an agreement with Sri Lanka about debt servicing, subsequent to a recent arrangement for Zambia to fund its debt to international creditors.
In a later statement, Sri Lanka’s finance ministry stated, “The country’s authorities hope that this historic accomplishment will serve as an anchor to their ongoing engagement with the Official Creditor Committee and commercial creditors, including the bondholders.”
The ministry continued, “It should also facilitate approval by the IMF Executive Board of the first review of the IMF-supported programme in the coming weeks, allowing for the disbursement of the next tranche of IMF financing, which amounts to approximately US$334 million.”