Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives among countries with highest debt burdens to China

South Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the Maldives are deeply in debt to China. Pakistan owes China $77.3 billion in foreign exchange, while Maldives owe China 31 per cent of its GDP (GNI).

According to Forbes, the Maldives' total debt will be MVR 86 billion by the end of 2020, with MVR 44 billion of that being external debt.

According to Forbes, 97 countries worldwide are in debt to China, based on data from The World Bank report as of 2020. Countries that owe China a lot of money are mostly in Africa, but they can also be found in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.

China is reaching the majority of countries through the One Belt, One Road initiative.

In 2022, the world's low-income countries owe 37% of their debt to China, compared to only 24% in bilateral debt to the rest of the world.

According to statistics released by the Finance Ministry, Maldives' debt will reach MVR 99 billion by the end of Q1 2022, according to the Maldives newspaper. It accounted for 113% of GDP.

The construction of the Sinamale Bridge and the airport development project in the Maldives are among the projects funded by Chinese loans.

Bangladesh is also a participant in China's Belt and Road Initiative. Dhaka owes Beijing 6% of its total foreign debt, which is approximately $4 billion.

According to the Financial Times, Bangladesh is seeking a $1.5 billion first instalment from the IMF as part of a $4.5 billion total package.

Bangladesh had a total foreign debt of $62 billion in 2021, according to the IMF. The vast majority of the debt is owed to multilateral lending institutions such as the World Bank.

Djibouti and Angola had the highest relative debt burdens, with debt to China exceeding 40% of gross national income, an indicator similar to GDP but also including income from overseas sources.

The Maldives and Laos are both affected by Chinese debt worth 30% or more of their GDP, with the latter having recently opened a railway line to China, which is already causing debt problems for the country.

Sri Lankan In May 2022, the country became the first in two decades to default on its sovereign debt. In late 2020, China's debt to Sri Lanka was the fifth-highest overall, accounting for 9% of the country's GDP.

According to the Financial Times, which described the situation in Sri Lanka and elsewhere as "China's first overseas debt crisis," the country will have to renegotiate loans worth $52 billion in 2020 and 2021—more than three times the amount that faced this fate in the previous two years.

Over the last two decades, China has provided record amounts of financing to developing countries, supporting both public and private sector projects.

President Xi Jinping's flagship foreign policy initiative, the Belt and Road Initiative, was launched in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries and international organisations, propelling China to global dominance in international development finance.

A new study shows that China's Belt and Road Initiative has resulted in $385 billion in "hidden debts" to Beijing from dozens of low- and middle-income countries.

According to AidData, an international development research lab based at Virginia's College of William & Mary, 13,427 Chinese development projects worth a total of $843 billion were completed in 165 countries over an 18-year period ending in 2017.

China has been chastised for its lending practices to poorer countries, accusing them of leaving them unable to repay their debts and thus vulnerable to Chinese pressure.

China dismisses this criticism, calling it "propaganda/narrative of vested interested countries" aimed at tarnishing its image.