The strategically-placed Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives, which has borrowed heavily from China and shifted allegiance from India, is at high risk of "debt distress," the IMF warned Wednesday.

Pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu’s predecessor, former president Abdulla Yameen, who ruled for five years until 2018, borrowed heavily from Beijing for construction projects.

That left it owing 42 percent of its more than $3 billion foreign debt to China in 2021, according to the World Bank, citing the Maldives’ finance ministry.

  • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    82·
    11 months ago

    China’s belt-and-road loans are significantly worse than those development loans handed out by the IMF/World Bank. Shorter payback terms and higher interest rates. Seems predatory and mostly meant to make developing countries specifically indebted to China…

    • eskimofry@lemmy.world
      5·
      11 months ago

      Yet many countries are tripping and falling over trying to queue up for China’s loan. Why? Is the IMF/World bank not necessarily a good option? What goes on behind closed doors in these orgs?

    • olof
      3·
      11 months ago

      Because borrowing from the IMF is completely without any strings attached?

      • eskimofry@lemmy.world
        1·
        11 months ago

        I guess you are meaning to point out the same question i had, namely what did the IMF do to these nations that they are willingly subjecting themselves to China. It seems like more of the nastiness is hidden behind a veil of spreading democracy/prosperity