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FinObservatory

Chinese overseas lending / BIH

Bosnia and Herzegovina: debt owed to China

In 2021, Bosnia and Herzegovina is estimated to have owed China $822m, equal to 3.5% of its GDP, which ranks it 66 of 126 borrowers in the panel by dollars owed. The estimated stock peaked at $822m in 2021.

$822m
Estimated total, 2021
rank 66 of 126
3.5%
Percent of GDP
2021
$566m
Public and publicly guaranteed
2021
$256m
Private non-guaranteed
31.2% of external

The estimated stock, 2000 to 2021

The largest single-year move in the estimated stock is 2021, when it rose by $169m.

Public and publicly guaranteedPrivate non-guaranteedPBoC swap drawings

Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending. Selection: estimated stock owed to China by Bosnia and Herzegovina, by year and instrument, 2000 to 2021. Zeros are estimated zeros (no known loans outstanding), not missing values. Methodology

Against what Bosnia and Herzegovina reports owing to all creditors

Bosnia and Herzegovina reported $13.75bn of total external debt to all creditors in 2021, of which $5.47bn is public and publicly guaranteed. The China estimate is 6.0% of the reported external total and 10.3% of the reported public and guaranteed stock. These are ratios of two different measurements, one estimated and one borrower-reported, and they are not a share of a single consistent total.

Measure, 2021Estimated, owed ChinaReported, all creditorsRatio, %
Total external debt$822m$13.75bn6.0%
Public and publicly guaranteed$566m$5.47bn10.3%

Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending (estimated stocks), and World Bank International Debt Statistics, borrower-reported via the Debtor Reporting System (all-creditor stocks). Selection: estimated external and PPG stock owed to China in 2021 against Bosnia and Herzegovina's reported DT.DOD.DECT.CD and DT.DOD.DPPG.CD for the same year. Drawn swap balances are excluded from the estimated column: they are a central-bank liability the Debtor Reporting System's long-term-debt concepts do not carry. Methodology