askchapo

22749 readers

382 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

Posts must ask a question.
If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.
Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.
Try [email protected] if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 4 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

How bad is the debt people talk about of African countries incurring with China? (hexbear.net)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I genuinely feel like America bombing the hell out of so many countries in Africa just naturally would endear those countries to anyone except America and their Western vassals, but apparently a lot of twitter users can't seem to comprehend that.

Is whatever debt these countries incur worse than the IMF? Are the consequences anywhere near as bad?

I usually like to start from the position that the leaders of these countries know what they're doing (something Western twitter users don't), so I personally doubt it's anywhere near as bad as people claim, and no matter how bad it is, I don't believe for a moment it could be as bad as the IMF.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago

https://medium.com/collapsenews/of-africas-total-debt-only-about-8-was-owed-to-chinese-entities-with-most-owed-to-the-west-45e4ac38f474

No paywall link: https://www.freedium.cfd/https://medium.com/collapsenews/of-africas-total-debt-only-about-8-was-owed-to-chinese-entities-with-most-owed-to-the-west-45e4ac38f474

The IMF has been forcing African countries to cut public spending and privatize industries since the 1980s, crumbling healthcare centers and education sectors.

Western-backed projects are left half-finished of crumbling within years, but countries still have to pay back debts.

Eurobond interest rates can be up to 16% for African countries, while Western countries pay 1%.

Western oil companies spill more oil in Nigeria every year for the past 50 years, than the Exxon Valdez disaster.

China holds 8% of Africa's total debt, but has been FORGIVING INTEREST FREE loans. "China debt trapping" is a classic case of western powers deflecting their own sins onto others.