Ghana expert: How can it be said that China caused Ghana’s debt crisis?
2024-08-22
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China News Service, Beijing, August 21 (Xie Yanbing) Paul Frimpong, executive director of the Ghana-China Policy Advisory Center, said in Beijing on the 21st that Ghana's debt to China accounts for a small proportion of its overall foreign debt, "How can it be said that China caused Ghana's debt crisis?"
On the same day, the 6th China-Africa Media Cooperation Forum and China-Africa Think Tank High-level Dialogue opened in Beijing. Frimpong made the above statement at the parallel sub-forum on "Win-win Cooperation: Shaping a New Prospect for the Docking of the Belt and Road Initiative and the AU's 2063 Agenda".
He said that the Belt and Road Initiative has significantly improved the connectivity of the African continent and provided investment and financing support to African countries. However, there are some noises from the outside world surrounding the African infrastructure construction projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, such as whether the projects are sustainable, whether the investment model is feasible, and China's original intention.
"Some people say that cooperation between Africa and China is selling sovereignty to China and that Africa has lost its independent decision-making power. We think this is wrong and it is not the case," he refuted.
Frimpong pointed out that in the Belt and Road cooperation, African countries are not passive recipients but active participants. “Both sides negotiate terms that are consistent with our development goals and ensure that the projects are sustainable and beneficial to economic development.”
He said that when the outside world talks about African infrastructure construction projects under the "Belt and Road" initiative, the debt issue will definitely be involved, because infrastructure construction requires funds, but China has not created a "debt trap."
"Some people think that Chinese investment caused Ghana's debt crisis. In fact, Ghana's current foreign debt is 30 billion US dollars, of which China only accounts for 1.9 billion US dollars, which means that China only accounts for about 6% of our total foreign debt. So how can we say that China caused Ghana's debt crisis? As Africans, we need to speak out and tell the truth." Frimpong said. (End)
