FinObservatory

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.

$1.63bn
Estimated total, 2021
rank 48 of 126
13.4%
Percent of GDP
2021
$1.63bn
Public and publicly guaranteed
2021
$0
Private non-guaranteed
0.0% of external

The estimated stock, 2000 to 2021

The largest single-year move in the estimated stock is 2011, when it rose by $973m.

Public and publicly guaranteedPrivate non-guaranteedPBoC swap drawings

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

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 the reported all-creditor stock, 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, 2021Estimated, owed ChinaReported, all creditorsRatio, %
Total external debt$1.63bn$1.50bn109.2%
Public and publicly guaranteed$1.63bn$1.13bn144.0%

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