Africa 2017 Forum Preliminary Report Authenticate Highest Indebtedness by Ethiopia and Kenya

Africa 2017 Forum Preliminary Report Authenticate Highest Indebtedness by Ethiopia and Kenya

By Yosief Abraham Z

The recently concluded ‘business for Africa and World’ cites Ethiopia and Kenya, headed by Angola, as the highest countries to have indebted from China. In this Africa 2017 Forum convention, which was underway in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the conventioneers deliberated on empowering African youth competence and potency in the emerging market of the continent.

In addition to in analysis depth the on Africa-China partnership in the economy domain, assessments emphasized Ethiopia and Mozambique, among others, for their increasing debts from China and evaluated its possible repercussions.

After assessing possibilities for integrating African economy power by Africans, members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) also unfolded some Africa countries maniac for high indebtedness. With Ethiopia and Kenya from Horn Africa, researches indicate accumulated loans of Angola—the former member from Southern Africa— as ‘staggering’ for the country have borrowed $21 billion from China, a quarter of China’s lending to Africa. “It is time to reconsider marching with the perverted ‘borrowing from Peter to pay Paul’ slogan,” asserts Ibrahima Diong to Nile International TV.

With Eritrea, Saharawi Al-Arab Democratic, Liberia and others, which have been listed as the ‘least indebted’ countries, the second session of the Africa 2017 Forum stressed the need to diversify economy systems by member countries to tackle more dependence on one or two major products, mainly natural resources. As these natural resources have been inoperable for long and stable economy, African countries, spearheaded by Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan and Zambia, have stocked-up Africa’s foreign debt to $110 billion in 2016. This has in turn made difficult to tackle their undiversified economy quandaries.

Highly stormed by depleted economy power that resulted from high dependence on copper, the report manifests of Zambia’s economic calamities before some years, a situation that provoked the nation to have a $7 billion debts in October 2016. Taking this as caution to Djibouti to minimize its confidence on renting lands and port-activities, the forum emboldened manufacturing industries and entrepreneurships as viable option.

Not far from East Africa, Kenya has also been favorable to issue Eurobond as it made for its new railway from Mombasa to Nairobi at $3.8 billion Chinese loan in the fall of 2016. Nevertheless, other economy experts underpin ‘better to have loan than living with nothing and alone,’ controversial remark for some quarters.

In addition to South-Sudanese economy landscapes which is stirred in ramifications to high debts and crippled resurrection possibilities, HorMid observed that COMESA has also been challenged in authorizing its Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank in Bujumbura, Burundi, to tackle financial hurdles to youths programs for entrepreneurship.

The COMESA Africa 2017 Forum, which was attended by 42 ministers and executives from 24 African countries, at last stressed to escalate entrepreneurships and to diversify countries glance on youth.

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Yosief Abraham Z is a freelance journalist and Executive Director of HorMid Media and Art Center. You can contact him at josiabraham29@gmail.com

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