Chinese overseas lending / CUB
Cuba: debt owed to China
In 2021, Cuba is estimated to have owed China $1.01bn, which ranks it 63 of 126 borrowers in the panel by dollars owed. The estimated stock peaked at $1.07bn in 2020.
The estimated stock, 2000 to 2021
The largest single-year move in the estimated stock is 2005, when it rose by $163m.
Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending. Selection: estimated stock owed to China by Cuba, by year and instrument, 2000 to 2021. Zeros are estimated zeros (no known loans outstanding), not missing values. Methodology
Against what Cuba reports owing to all creditors
No comparison is possible. Cuba has no row in the World Bank International Debt Statistics table. There is no reported all-creditor stock to measure the China estimate against, so the ratio is n/a, not zero and not a hundred percent. This is a difference in the scope of the two datasets, not evidence of anything hidden. The two-sources page lists every borrower in this position.
Chinese restructurings involving Cuba
3 deals recorded between Cuba and Chinese state creditors. These are context, not accounting: the source records face-value reduction as a flag rather than a magnitude, so no haircut percentage exists for them, and nothing here is netted off the estimated stock above.
Creditor: Multiple
In 2016, the Chinese Government reportedly forgave 42.7% ($2.83 billion) of the Cuban's Government's outstanding debt obligations (worth $6 billion) according to AidData. The Chinese Government reportedly rescheduled the remaining 52.8% of the the Cuban Government's outstanding debt obligations (worth $3.17 billion). The exact terms of this restructuring are unknown.
AidData 2.0; Bon and Cheng (2021)
Creditor: Sinosure
In 2010, the Cuban government and the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE) agree on a debt rescheduling. According to AidData, the debt that was renegotiated could be as high as $4 billion USD.
AidData 2.0; Bon and Cheng (2021)
Creditor: Multiple
In 2008, China agreed to extend the repayment period for an unspecified amount of trade-related debt that Cuba accumulated in 1995 by ten additional years. In the same agreement, China also extended the repayment period of a 1998 zero-interest loan. According to AidData, the agreement was granted in response to the damage caused by hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma earlier in 2008 as well as the global economic crisis.
AidData 2.0; Bon and Cheng (2021)
Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, Hidden Defaults (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9925). Selection: every recorded restructuring agreement between Cuba and a Chinese state creditor. Face-value reduction is a 0/1 flag in the source, not a percentage; the badge appears only where the source sets it. Methodology