Chinese development finance in Africa today is a small fraction of what it was a decade ago when Beijing’s policy banks provided billions of dollars in loans to countries across the continent.
But while those heady days of easily accessible finance will likely never return, there are indications major Chinese lenders are once again gearing up to extend new financing for badly needed infrastructure projects in Africa.
Tarela Moses and Tim Hirschel-Burns from Boston University’s Global Development Center closely follow the latest Chinese financing trends and join Eric & Cobus to discuss why there’s reason for modest optimism.
Show Notes:
About Oyintarelado (Tarela) Moses and Tim Hirschel-Burns:
Oyintarelado (Tarela) Moses is the Data Analyst for the Global China Initiative at the Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center. Her research covers Chinese loans to Africa, finance for development and China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its alternatives. Prior to joining the GDP Center, she worked on the international relations team of the Export-Import Bank of the United States as a policy analyst. She also worked at the China Africa Research Initiative as a research assistant and interned at the U.S. Development Finance Corporation as a political risk insurance graduate assistant. At these institutions, she researched and analyzed political risks, development finance and the global export credit market. Tarela earned a M.A. in China Studies and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a certificate in Chinese and American Studies from the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and a B.A. in Political Science and Chinese Language from Duke University.
Tim Hirschel-Burns is Policy Liaison for the Global Economic Governance Initiative at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center. His work focuses on development finance, financial stability and trade and investment. He has written for publications including Foreign Policy, Just Security, The Los Angeles Review of Books and The Yale Journal of International Law, and his analysis has been featured in outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian and The BBC. Prior to his current role, Tim was a Bernstein International Human Rights Fellow with Oxfam America, working on climate change, taxation and human rights as they intersect with natural resources. He is a trained lawyer with a J.D. from Yale Law School. While in law school, Tim co-founded Law Students for Climate Accountability. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Swarthmore College and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin.
Credit: Source link