Germany to Africa: please stop borrowing from China
STR/AFP The German government is getting behind an initiative to open up alternative financing for African countries tempted by Beijing’s no-strings-attached loans. The idea? Set up African bond markets that can attract international capital. Berlin has presented its initiative, part of its agenda as president of the G8 group of industrial nations, as part of ...
STR/AFP
The German government is getting behind an initiative to open up alternative financing for African countries tempted by Beijing’s no-strings-attached loans. The idea? Set up African bond markets that can attract international capital.
Berlin has presented its initiative, part of its agenda as president of the G8 group of industrial nations, as part of an effort to help African countries to insulate themselves against rapid swings in international exchange rates. However, Thomas Mirow, deputy finance minister, said the move would also address concerns fuelled by Beijing’s policy of granting generous, unconditional loans to African countries as a way of securing access to these countries’ resources and markets.
The initiative is a sign of just how nervous Western officials are about losing the powerful leverage that lending has provided them.
David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist
More from Foreign Policy


A New Multilateralism
How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.


America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want
Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.


The Endless Frustration of Chinese Diplomacy
Beijing’s representatives are always scared they could be the next to vanish.


The End of America’s Middle East
The region’s four major countries have all forfeited Washington’s trust.