(Bloomberg) -- Angola is set to be the biggest beneficiary of a plan by the Group of 20 to temporarily suspend debt payments by the world’s poorest nations.
The southern African nation could see $3.4 billion of potential savings, or about 28% of the total $12 billion estimated by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the latter Washington-based lender said on its website Friday.
The G-20 in April agreed to provide the relief to help free up funds for more than 70 poor nations to deal with the pandemic. Without help, many countries spending more to tackle the pandemic -- which epidemiologists say has yet to peak in developing nations -- may be forced into default.
Angola said June 1 it was in talks with lenders to reprofile some of its debt. Chinese lenders account for 45% of the nation’s external debt, or $22.4 billion at the end of last year, according to data from the central bank.
The government of Africa’s second-biggest oil exporter is trying to tackle its debt load as crude prices hurt revenues and are set to cause a fourth straight year of economic contraction. A deal among oil-producing nations to cut output from last month also makes it difficult for Angola to repay its loans to Chinese banks using shipments of the fuel.
China accounts for $3 billion of the amount Angola owes to the G-20, according to the World bank data.
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