Africa far from debt crisis, says regional bank

Washington

AFRICA is a long way from facing a debt crisis even as commercial lending to the continent soars and Mozambique became the first regional country to miss a payment on a dollar loan this year, according to a senior official at the African Development Bank.

Debt levels across the continent's 54 countries average 17 per cent to 18 per cent of GDP, which is low, Abebe Shimeles, acting director in the AfDB's development research department, said at the lender's annual meetings in Lusaka, Zambia's capital.