Chinese overseas lending / FJI
Fiji: debt owed to China
In 2021, Fiji is estimated to have owed China $180m, equal to 4.2% of its GDP, which ranks it 96 of 126 borrowers in the panel by dollars owed. The estimated stock peaked at $310m in 2015.
The estimated stock, 2000 to 2021
The largest single-year move in the estimated stock is 2014, when it rose by $58m.
Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending. Selection: estimated stock owed to China by Fiji, by year and instrument, 2000 to 2021. Zeros are estimated zeros (no known loans outstanding), not missing values. Methodology
Historical loan records from the 2021 release
These records come from the 2021 HRT Mendeley replication release, not the November 2025 refreshed stock panel charted above. The refresh uses the updated Franz, Horn, Parks, Reinhart and Trebesch methodology, so this table cannot be reconciled to the chart. The earlier release marks 11 loan-level records for Fiji as part of its debt-estimate sample, spanning 2006 to 2012. Comparable commitments are available for 10 of those loans and sum to $504m. These are gross commitments, not outstanding debt stocks. The stock methodology applies disbursement and amortisation profiles, with imputation where loan terms are missing, so the commitment sum must not be compared with the stock above. See the methodology. Terms are sparse by source: interest rate appears on 2 loans, grace period on 0, maturity on 1, any of the three on 2, and all three together on 0. The earlier file also carries 40 additional project rows for Fiji outside that sample, so they are not included in this table.
| Year | Project | Commitment, USD | Commitment, source currency | Terms | Creditor | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Chinese EXIM bank loans of $123.9 million to Fiji for road construction ID: FJI_37 · Source: AidData | $124m | USD 123,900,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central government |
| 2012 | EXIM Bank offered preferential loan to Fiji for Moto road upgrades ID: FJI_38 · Source: AidData | n/a | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central government |
| 2011 | China Exim Bank loans Fiji 53.8 million USD for Buca Bay road upgrade ID: FJI_28 · Source: AidData | $54m | USD 53,800,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | Unspecified Chinese government agency Unspecified Chinese government agency | Loan Concessional · borrower Central government |
| 2011 | China Exim Bank loans Fiji 51.1 million USD for Sawani-Serea road upgrade ID: FJI_27 · Source: AidData | $51m | USD 51,100,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central government |
| 2011 | EXIM Bank offered preferential loan to Fiji for Sigatoka Valley road upgrades ID: FJI_35 · Source: AidData | $48m | USD 48,200,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central government |
| 2011 | China loans $26.1 million USD for housing project in Fiji ID: FJI_34 · Source: AidData | $26m | USD 26,100,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan loan type n/a · borrower Central government |
| 2011 | China funds $3.1 loan for construction of Navua Hospital in Fiji ID: FJI_30 · Source: AidData | $3.10m | USD 3,100,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | Unspecified Chinese government agency Unspecified Chinese government agency | Loan loan type n/a · borrower Central government |
| 2009 | CDB gives Fiji loan for the construction of Nadarivatu Hydropower station ID: FJI_18 · Source: AidData, BU Energy | $70m | USD 70,000,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Development Bank (CDB) State-owned policy bank | Loan Commercial · borrower Central government |
| 2009 | Fiji seeking loan from China for low cost housing ID: FJI_20 · Source: AidData | $36m | FJD 70,000,000 | rate 2% | grace n/a | maturity 20y | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central government |
| 2008 | China loans 113 million Fiji dollars for rural roads ID: FJI_17 · Source: AidData | $71m | FJD 113,000,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | Unspecified Chinese government agency Unspecified Chinese government agency | Loan loan type n/a · borrower Central government |
| 2006 | E-Government Project ID: FJI_14 · Source: AidData | $21m | RMB 165,000,000 | rate 2% | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central government |
Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending (2021 Mendeley replication loan file). Selection: 2021 replication loan records mapped to Fiji and flagged DebtEstimateSample = 1 in that release. This is an earlier source universe, not the records used for the November 2025 refreshed stock panel. CommitmentUSD is a gross commitment flow and is not comparable to the charted stock. Commitment stays in its source currency, and ProjectDescription is rendered as free-text data from the file. Methodology
Against what Fiji reports owing to all creditors
Fiji reported $2.50bn of total external debt to all creditors in 2021, of which $1.21bn is public and publicly guaranteed. The China estimate is 7.2% of the reported external total and 14.8% 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, 2021 | Estimated, owed China | Reported, all creditors | Ratio, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total external debt | $180m | $2.50bn | 7.2% |
| Public and publicly guaranteed | $180m | $1.21bn | 14.8% |
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 Fiji'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