Highlights: Sierra Leone: the debate on debt to China resurfaces during the president's visit to Beijing. The former government took out a $150 million loan from the Chinese company China Railway Seventh Group for the construction of a main road. The loan, repayable over 25 years, must be paid with revenues from tolls erected on this road. President Julius Maada Bio even called it a “scam’ during his electoral campaign. The increase in toll rates in the midst of an economic crisis worries Mamoud Tarawallie, economist.

In Sierra Leone, the debate on the debt to China resurfaces during a state visit to Beijing by President Julius Maada Bio, from February 27 to March 2, 2024. Explanations.

Sierra Leone: the debate on debt to China resurfaces during the president's visit to Beijing

In Sierra Leone, the debate on the debt to China resurfaces during a state visit to Beijing by President Julius Maada Bio, from February 27 to March 2, 2024. Explanations.

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The national flags of Sierra Leone and China flutter in Tian'anmen Square on February 27, 2024 in Beijing, China.

The President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, will pay a state visit to China from February 27 to March 2.

VCG via Getty Images - VCG

By: RFI Follow

The President of

Sierra Leone

, Julius Maada Bio, is on an official visit to Beijing.

The Head of State arrived in China on February 27, 2024 for a five-day visit, intended to strengthen bilateral trade relations.

This February 28, during a meeting with his counterpart Xi Jinping, the two men agreed on financial support of more than 300 million euros in favor of Freetown and Beijing also announced the cancellation of part of the Sierra Leonean debt for 120,000 euros.

The question of debt is re-emerging in the public debate: Sierra Leone's main creditor, China is in fact on the front line in this issue.

The rise in toll prices for a highway financed by China is controversial

The increase in toll prices for a highway financed by China, which is due to come into force on March 1, is particularly controversial.

In 2015, the former government took out a $150 million loan from the Chinese company China Railway Seventh Group for the construction of a main road – the Wellington-Masiaka road – linking the capital Freetown to neighboring countries, the Liberia and Guinea.

This loan, repayable over 25 years, must be paid with revenues from tolls erected on this road.

At the time, this contract with China, considered exorbitantly expensive (just like another for the construction of a new airport, ultimately abandoned), sparked an outcry.

President Julius Maada Bio even called it a “

scam

” during his electoral campaign.

The increase in toll rates in the midst of an economic crisis worries Mamoud Tarawallie, economist: “

If this measure is adopted, it will have an impact on the cost of transport between the provinces and Freetown.
Imagine you are transporting iron bars or cement, and you have to pay three times the fare of 700 leones, which is about 21,000 leones, and then the same on the way back, which is 4,200, it's too much.
This will penalize businesses, and will impact the government's ability to generate revenue.

Prince Jacob Macauley, another economist, points out the poor conditions of the loan, the duration of which was extended to 27 years: "

The road itself is not up to standard, it is an unfinished road, and then there is no alternative, you cannot take another route.
Do you see how the authorities violate the rights of the population?
What is this kind of business relationship?

In 2012, Sierra Leone's debt to China stood at $47 million, today it is around $67 million, according to the World Bank.

Sierra Leone: the debate on debt to China resurfaces during the president's visit to Beijing

Sierra Leone: the debate on debt to China resurfaces during the president's visit to Beijing

The rise in toll prices for a highway financed by China is controversial

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