Picture: BLOOMBERG
While Chinese lending to Africa has been criticised by the US and other Western nations as opaque and designed to seize African assets offered as collateral, the researchers say this is not the case. The economic fallout from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has undermined the ability of many African nations to service their sovereign debts.
Concerned by many nations’ inability to repay their loans, Chinese institutions have in recent years slashed the amount of credit they’ll extend to Africa, Chatham House said. “The image of China as a predatory lender looking to expropriate African economic assets does not stand up in most cases,” they wrote.
“Djibouti offers a clear illustration of the tension between lending to certain African countries that are likely to struggle to make repayments in the future, and the geostrategic imperative of building and maintaining influence,” Chatham House says.
Africa will never rally to the US and the West. Dream on, those days are over.