Mozambique paid more than US$42.2 million to China in debt service over a three-month period, making Beijing its largest bilateral creditor, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.
The payments comprised US$35.51 million in principal and US$6.77 million in interest, underscoring the strain of Chinese debt on Mozambique’s fiscal position.
By the end of June, Mozambique’s debt to China stood at US$1.347 billion—second only to its obligations to the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group, which totalled US$2.98 billion.
Despite the mounting repayment burden, Beijing recently offered financial relief to Maputo. During an October visit to China, Prime Minister Benvida Levi announced that President Xi Jinping had forgiven interest payments on Chinese loans until 2024 and pledged a donation of 100 million yuan (about US$14 million). As of mid-2025, Mozambique’s debt to China represented 15% of its US$9.825 billion external debt portfolio, with Japan and Portugal following as other major creditors at US$405.5 million and US$380.7 million respectively.