When the Democratic Republic of Congo announced an agreement with China last year worth up to $8bn, it caught western donors and multilateral lending agencies off guard.
The announcement came at a delicate stage in Congo’s negotiations towards forgiveness of external debt accumulated under the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and also worth about $8bn. To qualify under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, the government is not supposed to contract fresh debt on anything but concessional terms.
