Chinese state-linked mega banks helped Zambia finance a sweeping infrastructure expansion but simultaneously fuelled a debt buildup that ultimately tipped the country into financial distress, according to a new report citing an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) investigation.

The findings lay bare how a combination of readily available Chinese credit, opaque contract awards, and a collapse in global copper prices turned an ambitious development bet into a sovereign debt catastrophe.

How the Debt Spiral Unfolded

Zambia's government entered a sustained borrowing spree from Chinese lenders to fund roads, airports, and other public works. The timing proved disastrous: it coincided with a sharp fall in global copper prices — Zambia's primary source of export revenue. As the debt burden mounted, rating agencies flagged rising external indebtedness and widening fiscal deficits, warnings that went unheeded.

The report noted that several Chinese-funded infrastructure projects were awarded without competitive bidding, carried inflated costs, and delivered limited economic returns — compounding the financial strain on the Zambian state.

What Chinese Lenders Are Accused Of

According to the report, banks such as ICBC extended loans to Zambia despite clear signs the country could not sustain the repayment burden. 'Chinese lenders like ICBC were willing to make onerous and high-risk loans to a country that could not afford them. Meanwhile, Chinese companies seeking infrastructure contracts urged Zambian state entities to take on new debt to fund those projects,' the report stated.

The pattern, the investigation argued, reflected a structural dynamic in which Chinese contractors actively encouraged state borrowing to secure project mandates, while lenders continued disbursing funds without adequate risk assessment.

Human Cost: Blackouts and Crop Losses

The debt crisis has had a direct and painful impact on ordinary Zambians. A farmer in Lusaka reportedly uprooted entire rows of organic vegetables in October 2025 and fed them to her pigs after a power crisis made irrigation impossible. 'There was nothing we could do. There was no water for the crops because there was no electricity,' she said.

The outages stemmed from load shedding — scheduled power cuts designed to manage grid demand — imposed by ZESCO, the state-owned utility that supplies nearly all of Zambia's energy. The farmer noted that even the published load-shedding schedules proved inconsistent and unreliable, leaving households and businesses unable to plan around the cuts.

Shifting Public Attitudes Toward China

The debt crisis appears to have eroded Zambia's public goodwill toward Beijing. Citing Afrobarometer survey data, the report found that positive views of China's economic and political role in Zambia fell from 72 per cent in 2014 to 42 per cent in 2022 — a 30 percentage point drop over eight years.

This comes amid a broader global conversation about Chinese infrastructure financing in developing nations, where critics argue that the combination of state-backed lending and tied contracts can leave recipient countries structurally exposed when commodity revenues falter.

Road Ahead for Zambia

Zambia has spent years in a sluggish recovery after defaulting on its external debt obligations. The ICIJ investigation and the Asia Times report add fresh scrutiny to the terms and oversight mechanisms governing Chinese development finance in Africa. Debt restructuring talks, transparency in future project awards, and diversification of revenue sources will likely shape Zambia's path back to fiscal stability.