China defends its US$944 million loan to Montenegro for motorway project
- Sum is less than 25 per cent of Balkan nation’s total debt, and relatively high cost of project due to ‘unfavourable geological conditions’, Chinese embassy in Podgorica says
- EU said earlier it would not pay off Montenegro’s debts
“Montenegro has taken out a loan of US$944 million from China for the construction of the [Bar-Boljare] motorway, which is less than a quarter of Montenegro’s total debt, and the interest rate on the Chinese loan is only 2 per cent, which is relatively low in relation to Montenegro’s total debt,” the embassy said on its website in response to inquiries from EU Observer, an online newspaper based in Brussels.
The claim is in line with the Montenegro government’s own figures, which put the nation’s external debt at US$3.69 billion in the third quarter of last year.
“The geological conditions … are very unfavourable, which is the fundamental reason for the relatively high cost,” it said.
It also claimed the motorway was “the largest infrastructure project since Montenegro’s independence” and “of great importance for the long-term development of tourism … the improvement of the imbalance in regional economic development and the strengthening of Montenegro’s connectivity with European countries”.