111–120 of 266 posts
So this is Economic Hitmen 2.0. China watched and learned from what the US did in South America.
I think when compared with Chinese imperialism, people will miss the US
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No one takes money from the IMF unless they are so screwed that they have no other options. The reason they have no one willing to lend to them is that their government has enacted policies that destroyed their economy and the IMF requires concrete changes to get them back on the right track. The alternative to taking an IMF loan is so bad (collapse of country) that they take it. It isn’t the IMF’s fault, it’s what h…
How can this be downvoted? Did Argentina get trapped in debt with IMF because a meteor hit Buenos Aires? Did a tsunami hit Athens? These countries burned through their reserves with no responsibility at all, reserves which were hard earned money from the population, and people demonize the IMF alone?
The title is false; nowhere in the article says that Kenya is unable to pay loan payments. It merely states that there's a contract clause that says China might take over Mombasa port if payments are not due. Kenya is not Sri Lanka, it's a wealthier country. They will find a way to pay back the payment. What can be discussed is if it was the right decision to build a high speed train. A much better decision would be…
>Kenya is not Sri Lanka, it's a wealthier country. Is it? Measured by GDP, they are lower than Sri Lanka. What metric are you using?
West African American here (Ghanaian - American). This article actually isn't true, while the Kenyan Chinese pact that led to the construction of the Nairobi - Mombasa Port does have clauses related to penalties around lack of payment, there has been no actual announcement or any signs of China declaring possession of the Mombasa Port. In fact, the big issue in Mombasa right now is actually revolving around a Kenyan…
> France in particular still operates a monetary zone that operates in 14 African countries in its former colonial obit The countries are free to leave the Franc CFA, some of them did and came back, having a stable currency you can trust on in the region is invaluable so they keep it on purpose. Especially that they can trade with their neighbours much more easily.
Furthermore, regardless of the relative merits and demerits of the monetary zone, it can't be denied that France has an overt influence on its former colonies. Most of West Africa is essentially a French backyard policywise as France's political economy is highly dependent on African natural resources(Oil from Gabon, Uranium from Niger, Maganese and phosphate from some of the smaller Franco West African states). France's behavior is quite strange especially when one can see how Britain, Spain, Portugal and Italy largely don't politically matter on the continent anymore.
Lastly, one just has to compare the state of Francophone African states towards most of the Anglo states, they are on by definition normally poorer and more fragile. The likes of Togo, Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, and Guinea are on the whole basketcases, and play a part in why West Africa, which is the region China has lended to the most is the poorest.
West African American here (Ghanaian - American). This article actually isn't true, while the Kenyan Chinese pact that led to the construction of the Nairobi - Mombasa Port does have clauses related to penalties around lack of payment, there has been no actual announcement or any signs of China declaring possession of the Mombasa Port. In fact, the big issue in Mombasa right now is actually revolving around a Kenyan…
Having worked with the World Bank in the past, I think that’s a very uninformed and biased view. They have been very effective in reducing poverty and improving infrastructure in Africa. I recommend that you read facts about what they do before reading random opinions online (from brand new accounts, especially). Also, I know dang warns us about pointing out potential propaganda, but this seems like this post is a go…
I could make the same argument against this website:
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I'm an African myself, but while Chinese model is different from the aid model we are familiar with, it's helping solve so many problems that we had no alternatives for. China is willing to come in with loans without political strings attached. Yes, there are collaterals but Africa has its own negotiators too, and we know the deal we get is much better than any other country or institution would be willing to give.
No political strings attached? You mean, they just takeover and don't need political strings? They benefit far more, their own workers do 80% of the work and nothing is helping the local economy. The loans also have to be paid back to China ( because they lend the money). This is a very good way to create growth on the shoulder of others.
The issue is a bit close to heart as a Sri Lankan. Here's an article which discusses the situation of LK and who else is in risk of a debt trap https://qz.com/1317234/chinas-debt-trap-in-sri-lanka-is-even...
The Sri Lanka case is the only credible case of "infrastructure seized by China because of insolvency"...but the media has used it to spread lots of fake stories about "China taking over Africa".
West African American here (Ghanaian - American). This article actually isn't true, while the Kenyan Chinese pact that led to the construction of the Nairobi - Mombasa Port does have clauses related to penalties around lack of payment, there has been no actual announcement or any signs of China declaring possession of the Mombasa Port. In fact, the big issue in Mombasa right now is actually revolving around a Kenyan…
> France in particular still operates a monetary zone that operates in 14 African countries in its former colonial obit The countries are free to leave the Franc CFA, some of them did and came back, having a stable currency you can trust on in the region is invaluable so they keep it on purpose. Especially that they can trade with their neighbours much more easily.
Claiming these former colonies are "free" is perhaps a deep misunderstanding of what "free" means. Consider: https://www.pambazuka.org/governance/france-still-robbing-it...
West African American here (Ghanaian - American). This article actually isn't true, while the Kenyan Chinese pact that led to the construction of the Nairobi - Mombasa Port does have clauses related to penalties around lack of payment, there has been no actual announcement or any signs of China declaring possession of the Mombasa Port. In fact, the big issue in Mombasa right now is actually revolving around a Kenyan…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s an awfully dismissive comment to a well laid out argument, you’re not really helping make a case for World Bank, which has been rife with corruption for decades.
Sorry, I seem to have missed the ‘well-laid out argument’. All I’m asking is that people read facts about the World Bank and make their own opinions.
What has changed the equation for the continent started in the 2000s, the commodities boom along with telecommunications improvement, along with the entrant of new players such as China, India, Turkey, and until recently Brazil(in the Lusophone states).
So if we choose to look at those historical datapoints, without even getting into abuses at the IMF/World bank, we can effectively agree that the Bretton Woods sisters have done very little to move the needle on African prosperity.
Can anyone blame Africans for ignoring the World Bank and IMF when the countries that did ignore its orthodoxy, from China in the late 1970s to then India in the early 1990s, prospered?