West must force private lenders to ease Africa’s crippling debt, say campaigners

Western governments should “compel” private lenders to ease loan repayments from low-income countries to tackle a debt crisis, according to campaigners.

Debt Justice, formerly the Jubilee Debt Campaign, said African governments owe three times more debt to western banks, asset managers and oil traders than they do to China, and are charged double the interest. China has been “mistakenly” blamed by western leaders for the failure to make progress on debt restructuring.

Tim Jones, head of policy at Debt Justice, said the UK and US were particularly important to reining in western lenders because most international private debt contracts are made under British or US law.