Chinese overseas lending / GNQ
Equatorial Guinea: debt owed to China
In 2021, Equatorial Guinea is estimated to have owed China $1.63bn, equal to 13.4% of its GDP, which ranks it 48 of 126 borrowers in the panel by dollars owed. The estimated stock peaked at $2.21bn in 2011.
The estimated stock, 2000 to 2021
The largest single-year move in the estimated stock is 2011, when it rose by $973m.
Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending. Selection: estimated stock owed to China by Equatorial Guinea, 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 10 loan-level records for Equatorial Guinea as part of its debt-estimate sample, spanning 2001 to 2017. Comparable commitments are available for 10 of those loans and sum to $2.42bn. 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 4 loans, grace period on 2, maturity on 2, any of the three on 4, and all three together on 2. The earlier file also carries 29 additional project rows for Equatorial Guinea outside that sample, so they are not included in this table.
| Year | Project | Commitment, USD | Commitment, source currency | Terms | Creditor | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Oyala (Djibloho) New Capital and Social Housing: 10 Administrative Buildings; Social Housing-500 Units ; and 1200 Units of Presidential Palace Administrative Districts ID: GNQ_39 · Source: JH CARI | $510m | n/a | 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 |
| 2015 | Micomeseng-Bonkoro Highway; 88.6 km ID: GNQ_38 · Source: JH CARI | $261m | n/a | 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 |
| 2012 | National Institute of Sports ID: GNQ_35 · Source: JH CARI | $346m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | Yunnan Construction Engineering Group (YNJG) State-owned enterprise | Loan Commercial · borrower Central government |
| 2010 | China gives 380 millions USD Loan for social housing units construction ID: GNQ_28 · Source: AidData, JH CARI | $380m | USD 380,000,000 | rate 2% | grace 2y | maturity 17y | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central government |
| 2009 | China finances construction of Djibloho Hydropower Station Project in Equatorial Guinea ID: GNQ_24 · Source: AidData, BU Energy, JH CARI | $257m | USD 257,000,000 | rate 5.5% | grace 2y | maturity 5y | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Commercial · borrower Central government |
| 2009 | Malabo Sewage Treatment Project ID: GNQ_26 · Source: JH CARI | $132m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC) State-owned enterprise | Loan Commercial · borrower Central government |
| 2008 | Eximbank provides loan for Bata Power Grid Expansion ID: GNQ_20 · Source: AidData, BU Energy, JH CARI | $300m | USD 300,000,000 | 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 |
| 2008 | Malabo Power Grid; Phase 2 ID: GNQ_21 · Source: AidData, JH CARI | $221m | 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 |
| 2002 | Loan for TV headquarters in Malabo ID: GNQ_12 · Source: AidData, JH CARI | $6.25m | USD 6,250,000 | rate 0% | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) Chinese government | Loan Zero-Interest Loan · borrower Central government |
| 2001 | China funds 11 million USD for construction of Niefang-Nkue road in Equatorial Guinea ID: GNQ_11 · Source: AidData, JH CARI | $11m | USD 11,380,000 | rate 0% | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) Chinese government | Loan Zero-Interest Loan · borrower Central government |
Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending (2021 Mendeley replication loan file). Selection: 2021 replication loan records mapped to Equatorial Guinea 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 Equatorial Guinea reports owing to all creditors
Equatorial Guinea reported $1.50bn of total external debt to all creditors in 2021, of which $1.13bn is public and publicly guaranteed. The China estimate is 109.2% of the reported external total and 144.0% 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. Here the estimate exceeds both reported stocks, which is logically impossible for a single creditor. Either the reported record is incomplete or the estimate is wrong, and this data cannot say which. See the two-sources page.
| Measure, 2021 | Estimated, owed China | Reported, all creditors | Ratio, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total external debt | $1.63bn | $1.50bn | 109.2% |
| Public and publicly guaranteed | $1.63bn | $1.13bn | 144.0% |
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 Equatorial Guinea'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