Serbia’s debt to China has increased 12 times in the last 10 years, from 305 million euros to 3.7 billion. Most of the debt is due to loans from the Chinese Export-Import Bank.
Chinese loans currently, according to NBS data, make up 8.4 percent of Serbia’s total external debt. This means that for every 100 euros owed to foreign creditors, the country owes eight euros to China.
In the period of the past ten years, loans were taken for infrastructure projects, which, due to the lack of transparency from the very beginning, are still under the scrutiny of the European Union (EU).
Serbia is currently paying a loan for the Zemun-Borča bridge in Belgrade, the ring road around Belgrade, the highway that will connect Belgrade and Čačak in central Serbia, the new block of the Kostolac B thermal power plant and the high-speed Novi Sad – Ruma road, known as the “Fruškogorski Corridor”.
The longest, until 2039, will be the repayment of the section of the Preljina – Požega highway and the section of the Novi Sad – Subotica railway as part of the Belgrade – Budapest international railway, RSE announced, with the assessment that the government in Serbia justified taking Chinese instead of European loans with flexibility and easier availability.
One of the largest Chinese projects in Serbia is “Clean Serbia”, agreed in August 2021. It involves the construction of a sewage network at 77 locations in Serbia.
The contract was signed by representatives of the Government of Serbia and the Chinese company China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), and the authorities in Belgrade, announcing the project, stated that it is worth 3.2 billion euros.
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