In late April 2019, Abiy Ahmed’s office said China had cancelled all interest-free loans outstanding to Ethiopia as of the end of 2018, while the prime minister attended Beijing’s Belt and Road forum.
Interest-free cancellation is not the same as wiping commercial or concessional debt that actually drives repayment stress. Officials still leaned on Chinese capital for industrial parks, rail, and power while forex stayed scarce.
Abiy Ahmed’s China trip mixed debt relief optics with Alibaba and satellite symbolism. For Horn readers, the ledger question remains: which loans disappear, which stay, and who pays when megaprojects underdeliver.
Kept as debt-geopolitics reference, the 2019 forgiveness note belongs beside later restructuring talks. Soft loans can be cancelled; leverage rarely is.
Sources: Africanews
