China has largely consolidated its position as the leading creditor of poor countries in recent years, far ahead of Japan, the World Bank said on Monday.
The Asian giant's share in the total debt owed to G20 countries rose from 45% in 2013 to 63% at the end of 2019, the multilateral institution said in a statement.
Over the same period, that of Japan, the second largest creditor of the G20, remained broadly unchanged at 15%.
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To relieve the countries most weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic, the G20 and the Paris Club have proposed a suspension of the payment of debt maturities (DSSI) until the end of the year.
According to the G7, this initiative has allowed 43 countries - the majority of which are in Africa - to defer $ 5 billion in official payments.
The total outstanding debt of these DSSI-eligible countries climbed 9.5 percent in 2019 to $ 744 billion, reaching a record high.
Of this amount, 178 billion dollars corresponded to bilateral claims, the majority with members of the G20.
"Frustration"
Multilateral organizations, the IMF and the World Bank, as well as several Paris Club creditors, plead for an extension to 2021, while deploring a lack of involvement of private sector creditors which weakens the initiative.
The President of the World Bank, David Malpass, stressed Monday his
"frustration",
calling for
"more transparency"
and also regretting the
"partial participation"
of official bilateral creditors.
A criticism that targets China.
At the end of September, the G7 finance ministers also said they were in favor of an extension of the moratorium while demanding more equitable sharing between all creditors.
They also implicitly attacked Beijing by criticizing countries which, in order to avoid participating in this initiative, classify their public institutions as commercial lenders.
They targeted the Development Bank, considered by Beijing to be a commercial bank.
