section_path: Impact by region or country/Africa
section_name: Africa
paragraph_text: Africa
  
  In April 2020, Sub-Saharan Africa appeared poised to enter its first recession in 25 years, but this time for a longer duration. The World Bank predicted that overall sub-Saharan Africa's economy would shrink by 2.1%–5.1% during 2020. African countries cumulatively owe $152 billion to China from loans taken 2000–2018; as of May 2020, China was considering granting deadline extensions for repayment, and in June 2020, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said that some interest-free loans to certain countries would be forgiven.