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FinObservatory

Chinese overseas lending / SEN

Senegal: debt owed to China

In 2021, Senegal is estimated to have owed China $2.19bn, equal to 8.0% of its GDP, which ranks it 43 of 126 borrowers in the panel by dollars owed. The estimated stock peaked at $2.19bn in 2021.

$2.19bn
Estimated total, 2021
rank 43 of 126
8.0%
Percent of GDP
2021
$2.17bn
Public and publicly guaranteed
2021
$17m
Private non-guaranteed
0.8% of external

The estimated stock, 2000 to 2021

The largest single-year move in the estimated stock is 2018, when it rose by $427m.

Public and publicly guaranteedPrivate non-guaranteedPBoC swap drawings

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

Against what Senegal reports owing to all creditors

Senegal reported $30.68bn of total external debt to all creditors in 2021, of which $16.92bn is public and publicly guaranteed. The China estimate is 7.1% of the reported external total and 12.9% 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$2.19bn$30.68bn7.1%
Public and publicly guaranteed$2.17bn$16.92bn12.9%

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 Senegal'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

Chinese restructurings involving Senegal

1 deal recorded between Senegal 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.

2011Debt rescheduling only

Creditor: China Ex-Im Bank

China Ex-Im Bank extends a grace period extension on a RMB 531 million loan to the Government of Senegal for Phase 2 of the 90kV Dakar Electricity Distribution Network Rehabilitation and Extension Project. The original terms of the China Ex-Imbank loan were as follows: 20-year maturity, 7 year grace period, and a 2% interest rate. The exact length of the grace period extension is unknown.

AidData 2.0

Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, Hidden Defaults (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9925). Selection: every recorded restructuring agreement between Senegal 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