Don’t mortgage countries for loans, development banks tell Africa
From Left: Director of the Africa Investment Forum Chinelo Anohu, Development Bank of Southern Africa Group Executive Client Coverage Mohan Vivekanandan, Africa Finance Corporation President Samaila Zubairu, African Development Bank PresidentAkinwumi Adesina, Africa50 Chief Executive OfficerAlain Ebobissé, Trade and Development Bank Group Managing Director Admassu Tadesse at the African Investment Forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. PHOTO | COURTESY | AFDB
Development finance institutions in Africa have cautioned governments against using countries’ natural resources to back infrastructure loans, as it amounts to mortgaging their future to creditors. Instead, they want states to explore public-private partnerships to finance their development projects.
While addressing a press conference in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire during the African Investment Forum, executives of eight multilateral finance institutions in Africa said most states in the continent had become heavily indebted and the volatility of the global economy was making their debt situation worse, hence the need to go slow on borrowing to explore cheaper ways of financing development.
