Chinese overseas lending / TGO
Togo: debt owed to China
In 2021, Togo is estimated to have owed China $740m, equal to 8.9% of its GDP, which ranks it 72 of 126 borrowers in the panel by dollars owed. The estimated stock peaked at $740m in 2021.
The estimated stock, 2000 to 2021
The largest single-year move in the estimated stock is 2016, when it rose by $113m.
Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending. Selection: estimated stock owed to China by Togo, 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 Togo as part of its debt-estimate sample, spanning 2004 to 2016. Comparable commitments are available for 11 of those loans and sum to $587m. 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 3, maturity on 3, any of the three on 3, and all three together on 2. The earlier file also carries 34 additional project rows for Togo outside that sample, so they are not included in this table.
| Year | Project | Commitment, USD | Commitment, source currency | Terms | Creditor | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Adjarala Dam 147MW Add-on Loan ID: TGO_43 · Source: JH CARI | $57m | 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 |
| 2016 | Niamtougou Airport Re-development ID: TGO_45 · Source: JH CARI | $44m | 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 |
| 2014 | Public Solar Street Light/Lamp Project; Phase 1 & 2 ID: TGO_42 · Source: JH CARI | $55m | n/a | rate n/a | grace 5y | maturity 25y | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central government |
| 2013 | Sokode Electric Transformer Station ID: TGO_39 · Source: BU Energy, JH CARI | $19m | 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 |
| 2012 | New Lome International Airport (CL Portion; Total 150mn) ID: TGO_37 · Source: JH CARI | $75m | 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 |
| 2012 | New Lome International Airport (EBC portion; total 150mn) ID: TGO_38 · Source: JH CARI | $75m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Commercial · borrower Central government |
| 2010 | China EXIM Loans $25 Mn USD to Develop E-government network in Togo ID: TGO_30 · Source: AidData, JH CARI | $25m | USD 25,000,000 | rate 2% | grace 5y | maturity 20y | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central bank |
| 2009 | Road Rehabilitation Projects in Togo ID: TGO_28 · Source: AidData, JH CARI | $165m | USD 165,000,000 | rate 2% | grace 7y | maturity 20y | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central bank |
| 2009 | CDMA Transmission Project ID: TGO_24 · Source: JH CARI | $32m | 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 |
| 2006 | Telecom Network Expansion Phase 2 ID: TGO_17 · Source: JH CARI | $20m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower SOE |
| 2004 | Telecom Network Expansion Phase 1 ID: TGO_10 · Source: JH CARI | $20m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower SOE |
Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending (2021 Mendeley replication loan file). Selection: 2021 replication loan records mapped to Togo 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 Togo reports owing to all creditors
Togo reported $3.54bn of total external debt to all creditors in 2021, of which $1.85bn is public and publicly guaranteed. The China estimate is 20.9% of the reported external total and 40.0% 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.
| Measure, 2021 | Estimated, owed China | Reported, all creditors | Ratio, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total external debt | $740m | $3.54bn | 20.9% |
| Public and publicly guaranteed | $740m | $1.85bn | 40.0% |
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 Togo'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