⁍ Kenya took a loan from China to build the $3.2 billion standard gauge railway.

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⁍ The East African nation raised its public debt ceiling last year.

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⁍ Ethiopia is the only African nation to have renegotiated its Chinese debt.

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– Kenya took a $3.2 billion loan from China to build a rail line—and now it wants the loan back. A report from Kenya’s transport committee to parliament says the government should renegotiate the loan terms “due to the prevailing economic distress occasioned by the effects of COVID-19,” Reuters reports. The report also says the contract for running the line should be renegotiated. China Road and Bridge Corporation, which built the railway, holds the contract through its Kenya subsidiary, Africa Star Operations. Any new contract for operations should cut costs by half, the committee said. The government has been forcing businesses to move their cargo on the railway to ensure it generates enough cash for operations and loan repayments. The committee called for cargo owners to be allowed to choose their mode of transport. In Africa, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa all have large Chinese loans, according to a tracker maintained by the Council on Foreign Relations. So far, Ethiopia is the only African nation to have renegotiated its Chinese debt. In late 2018, China agreed to restructure debt that included a loan for a $4 billion railway linking its capital Addis Ababa with neighboring Djibouti.