Page 64 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 11
P. 64
ECONOMY
The Green New Deal puts em- on others since Covid-19 trig- are lending, extending credit for
phasis on digital infrastructure. gered further economic diffi- the express purposes of uplifting
What is the point in having culty. Some Chinese loans will the standard of living of African
network coverage when there is become interest free. In 2018, nations.
no modern road, rail, bridge or at the historic Forum for Chi-
port along which to transport na-Africa Cooperation (FO- China`s Exim Bank is extend-
your goods? CAC) in Beijing, Zambia se- ing credit for mega-infrastruc-
cured a $30 million interest-free ture projects, for development
The alternative is the only choice loan and a $30 million grant of goods and services. That`s
that will end poverty and propel from China . exactly what a bank is supposed
African economies into a pros- to exist for, for the extension of
perous future. That choice is to On-going attacks on President credit for projects that will cre-
re-invest historical debt into the Lungu`s government have come ate progress and the upliftment
physical economy. from foreign funded anti-China of a nation`s standard of living.
campaigns .The President has And it is exactly what the City
This week Zambia became the responded to critics and said: of London-Wall Street banking
first African state to default on empire does not do.
its international debt since the “I implore you to ignore the
start of the Covid Pandemic. misleading headlines that seek It is 33 years since Thomas San-
to malign our relationship with kara, president of Burkina Faso,
Zambia`s debt situation is being China by mischaracterising our called upon Africa`s leadership
politicized in ugly attempts at economic cooperation to mean to renounce the continent`s
discrediting President Lungu`s colonialism.” debt. In a speech given on the 29
progressive economic policy and July, 1987, at the OAU ( Organi-
strong friendship with China. Leading Zambian economist zation of African Unity) Summit
The politicization is also aimed and head of Zambia’s Private in Addis Abeba, he said this:
at China which is still being Sector Development Associa-
blamed for creating debt traps tion, Yosuf Dodia, said that Chi- “We think that debt must be
and debt book diplomacy even nese investment should be seen seen from the standpoint of
though this kind of anti-China as an opportunity not a bur- its origins. Debts origins come
propaganda has now itself, been den.”Zambia has been dominat- from colonialism`s origins.
discredited. ed by the West for 100 years… Those who lend us money are
and we are seeing poverty all those who colonized us before.
Over the last few years, Zambia over the continent,” he said. They are those who used to
has had the foresight to invest manage our states and econo-
heavily in physical infrastruc- That is the general consensus of mies. Colonizers are those who
ture. This has been largely African governments who de- indebted Africa through their
financed by China`s Develop- fend the Chinese model. Com- brothers and cousins who were
ment Bank as part of the Belt pared to other creditors ( like the lenders. We are strangers to
and Road Initiative. the IMF) Chinese banks offer this debt. Therefore we cannot
far better terms. The interest is pay for it. Debt is neo-colo-
Zambia's appeal this week to the in some cases non-existent or nialism in which the coloniz-
Eurobond holders for deferment else at very low rates of interest. ers transform themselves into
of payment has been rejected. There are lengthy periods of `technical assistants`. In fact it
In contrast, China has already grace before payments com- is better to say `technical assas-
annulled a number of loans to mence and much longer re-pay- sins`.
African governments, including ment periods. And unlike West-
Zambia, and deferred payment ern banks, the Chinese banks They present us with financ-
64 | Heal . Restore . Rebirth . Afrika
