President Akufo-Addo has been defending the move by the Chinese government to earmark $60 billion fund for infrastructure projects in Africa.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the facility provided by China is not aid rather a loan which beneficiary countries are expected to pay back.
He said, “Borrowing money is not aid, what President Xi Jinping offered is a $60 billion fund which Africa countries can assess, not as aid but loans. If you can produce a project which the Chinese think it is worth supporting you can have access to such money and you have to pay it back. We’ll borrow money, everybody borrows money…”
President Akufo-Addo was speaking at the ongoing 2018 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Forum in Lagos, Nigeria.
He made the remarks when responding to a criticism that he has betrayed Africa by accepting part of the facility at the recently held China Africa Forum despite his quest to develop Ghana and Africa beyond aid.
The program seeks to support brilliant business ideas in Africa.
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So sad for Ghana. So NDC was right and on the right path then and they are right in saying NPP won on lies. NPP is doing the same thing NDC did. Nothing has changed, only the th1ev1ng players have changed There is so much waste in the governmental structure. Just cut the waste, cut the ministerial waste and numbers. A lot of ***barred word*** in the government. No Need For Loans into a massive leaking basket. CLUELESS BUNCH AND TH!VES
The way forward is "the government should cut the size of his government appointees to just half" and i bet you the savings for just a month X 12 = 1 year can do wonderfully marvelous development without going for a "classified loan" or supposedly aid. we should not support party blindly. if is bad is bad. the current vice president made so much noise about loans not aid during the 2016 elections. "jobless youth as a timing bomb indeed"
About the first comment do you know how much interest is charged on the Chinese loans? How low should it be, per the definition you quoted, for it to be classified as aid? I get disappointed when ppl talk as if it is wrong to borrow. It's not whether to borrow or not. It's what you borrow for that's important. (News flash, even the US and UK still borrow). When you borrow and divert some into election research and into overpriced projects it has to be criticised. If you think the govt are misusing the loans, by all means criticise it but to say not borrow, that is absolutely not the way to go. Research shows that these grants and aids from western countries are usually more for their benefit than for the recipient of it. Why have developing countries received aid and grants for a long time and not much has changed. You cannot keep doing the same thing and expect different results.
nana addo is certainly being ill-advised by the finance minister, ken ofori atta. what the president is trying to defend is complete hogwash. you go for chinese loan instead of a certain amount of aid and grants from the western countries and you think it is cool. i am very disappointed with these akyem leaders.
Oh so there is nothing wrong when borrowing eh! NPP took NDC on for borrowing to build infrastructures for the country. Today having deceived us that the money is here and that there is no need to borrow. NPP having been voted into power to show us where the money is, is now telling us there is nothing wrong borrowing. Posterity is our judge.
Ghana beyond aid is PRIDE at its best being displayed. President Kuffour saved the country by opting for a HIPIC status and that erased our debt. He was criticized for it put in the long run we became debt free. You are sending us back
@Who'sDeceivingthe Presidentagain, I thought after criticising you would at least give us an idea about how we can develop faster. Or are you just satisfied with criticising. Good for you. But can you put this debate in contest and contribute your ideas? In any case the President is saying we should get to a point where we will not depend on aid for survivor. We have to start work now to lay the foundation for that transformation. Reading the President's mantra carefully i see "Africa beyond aid" and not "Africa without aid". We should not just be happy criticising. If you cut your nose to spite your face you haven't achieved anything. Finally, be careful you are not left behind in all these.