Will the new Chinese financial life-raft eventually weigh down Nicaragua’s economy?
By Ivan Olivares (Confidencial)
HAVANA TIMES – In less than six months, Nicaraguan rulers Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have contracted new loans worth over US $567 million from China. That debt and the regime’s policy of indebtedness “compromises the future of the new generations of Nicaraguans, who will have to pay back those loans,” along with their high interest rates, assure economists consulted by Confidencial.
Between January and May of 2024, Nicaragua’s National Assembly – largely made up of deputies loyal to Ortega, who were “elected” in the November 2021 balloting farce – approved four new loan packages from China. The loans are aimed at financing three energy projects, plus a new airport at Punta Huete, 58 kilometers (36 miles) northeast of Managua.
The plan for a new airline terminal is the largest of these projects, with a projected budget of approximately 399.6 million dollars. A loan in this amount [2.875 billion Chinese yuan] was authorized on February 9, to finance the “Reconstruction, Expansion and Modernization of the International Airport at Punta Huete.” The construction project will take place in the municipality of San Francisco Libre, across Lake Xolotlan from the Nicaraguan capital, and is scheduled for completion in 2028.
A similar loan of US $72.7 million is earmarked for financing the design and construction of a photovoltaic plant to power the water systems of the Nicaraguan Aqueduct and Sewer Company (Enacal), located in San Isidro, Matagalpa.
A third loan for US $26.9 million dollars [194 million Chinese Yuan] was approved on April 10, for the construction of three gas storage tanks in Leon. The fourth loan, for $68 million dollars, was contracted for the construction of another photovoltaic plant in Ciudad Dario, Matagalpa, with a capacity to generate 67.4
