AFRICA’S CHINESE DEBT SERVICE SUSPENSION INITIATIVEBy MUBANGA LUCHEMBE AFRICA’S development aspirations have always rested on the possibilities and policies inherent in achieving rapid industrialisation.Africans believe that key interventions in industrial policy would lay the foundation for sustained growth, business and job creation. In contemporary China, African policy makers seem to have found a development partner whose interests, experiences and capacities match these continental ambitions. And yet, a decade after celebrating the Chinese finance’s rising tide into neglected areas such as infrastructure and its preliminary investments into the manufacturing sector, the talk has shifted to China as an obstacle stymieing development possibilities through unwieldy debt obligations that shackle African economies. Cutting through these rhetorically charged debates it is clear that the Beijing’s role as creditor puts it in an unprecedented conundrum. This is exacerbated by the deleterious effect of Covid-19 on African economies, threatening the continent’s progress towards achieving industrialisation.The Chinese contribution to African industrialisation has been twofold, focused […]
AFRICA’S CHINESE DEBT SERVICE SUSPENSION INITIATIVE
