US Raises Alarm Over China's Secretive Emergency Loans, Calls for Greater Transparency

The United States is voicing new concerns about China’s emergency loans to debt-laden countries, citing transparency issues.

The United States is raising new alarms about China’s emergency loans to financially struggling nations, highlighting transparency issues. Brent Neiman, a senior Treasury official, will address these concerns in a speech urging the International Monetary Fund to demand more clarity from China regarding its lending terms. Earlier this year, the Biden administration discussed this issue with Chinese officials in Washington, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

China’s central bank provides these loans through swap agreements, allowing countries to borrow Chinese renminbi and use their U.S. dollar reserves to repay foreign debts. This arrangement often results in high interest rates and deeper economic ties to China.

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Chinese state media reported that the central bank has 31 currency swap agreements worth a combined $586 billion. These loans often come with higher interest rates than those offered by the Federal Reserve or the IMF, and their lack of transparency can obscure the borrowing nation’s true debt levels.

In his speech at the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum in Washington, Neiman will reportedly highlight the IMF’s difficulties in assessing the fiscal health of countries like Laos, Suriname, and Argentina due to the opacity of Chinese loans.

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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Pooja Rajkumari