On July 14, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin hosted a regular press conference.

A reporter asked: Recently, the British charity "Debt Justice" released a report, citing data from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other institutions, arguing that the debt of African countries borrowed from Western private financial institutions is three times the debt borrowed from China, and the interest rate is 2 times that of China, calling on Western countries to urge private financial institutions to participate in the G20 debt relief initiative.

What is China's comment?

　　Wang Wenbin said that according to the data of the World Bank, of the total foreign debt of 49 African countries with data of 696 billion US dollars, borrowing from multilateral financial institutions and private financial institutions (excluding China, the same below) accounted for about a quarter. three.

A survey of 24 African countries with the highest debt burdens by Debt Justice shows that these countries will pay their median debt payments to private financial institutions and multilateral financial institutions over the next seven years at 32% and 35% respectively.

The average loan interest rate of Western private financial institutions is almost twice that of Chinese financial institutions.

　　Wang Wenbin said that facts have proved that the so-called "China Debt Trap Theory" is a "discourse trap" created by those forces that do not want to see the accelerated development of China's cooperation with developing countries such as Africa.

As the head of Debt Justice pointed out, “The West is diverting attention by blaming China for the African debt crisis. In fact, their own banks, asset managers and oil traders are far more to blame. ."

　　Wang Wenbin said that we call on developed countries and their private financial institutions and international multilateral financial institutions to take stronger actions in providing financial support to developing countries and easing their debt burdens, so as to help the world economy achieve inclusive and sustainable development.

(produced by Liu Peng)

Responsible editor: [Li Ji]