Bokpin: Africa must fashion out strategies in engaging China
The president of the World Bank last month told the BBC that he is concerned about some of the loans China has been contracting to developing economies in Africa
Prof Godfred Bokpin, an economist with the University of Ghana Business School has suggested to African governments to fashion out a strategy in engaging China.
The president of the World Bank last month told the BBC that he is concerned about some of the loans China has been contracting to developing economies in Africa.
David Malpass said the terms and conditions need to be “more transparent”.
However, China has said it is not the source of the debt trap of African countries, but a partner in helping them and other developing countries get out of the poverty trap.
Speaking on Asaase 99.5 Accra’s news analysis show, The Forum, on Saturday (15 April), Bokpin said: “It’s about time that Africa fashions out a strategy to engage China and the West.”
“China in the last 25 years or so have sought to have total control over Africa through debt, which if you think of is not so different from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.”
“We expected that by end of May, Ghana should have the IMF programme but global geopolitics also has a role to play in all of this. In the new scramble for Africa, the West feels the only way they could get Africa back is to free them of the debt owed to China,” Bokpin added.
Reporting by Fred Dzakpata in Accra
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