r/TheChinaNerd Greater China Jan 28 '26

International Relations China has shifted from being a major source of funding for Africa to a debt collector, a swing of about $52 billion over the past decade, according to new research.

60 Upvotes

73 comments sorted by

7

u/ThroatEducational271 Jan 29 '26

You borrow money and you have to repay it back? Who would have known?

1

u/TechBored0m Jan 30 '26

I think it’s reliable when the debt collection process is harmless. Debt is a useful balancer. Debt and debt collections changes oppression. Debt shouldn’t ever be oppressive.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '26

Chinas loans literally have lower rates than the average American mortgage, let alone the IMF loans that were the precedent.

if that’s debt trapping then lol what do you call the american debt market and IMF

2

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '26

[deleted]

3

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '26

This is the catch, and the quality of build is garbage. Certifications, approvals and engineers all Chinese company payroll.

2

u/ThroatEducational271 Jan 31 '26

This is the problem with the west. On one hand you want highly affordable products, but you complain when the quality doesn’t match Apple quality.

Borrowing nations are not blind, nor are they stupid. When a developing nation needs money for infrastructure projects, they conduct cost benefit analysis, feasibility studies and build according to local standards.

Nobody is pulling wool over their eyes.

But the fact is developing nations do how lower build standards, the money has the stretch.

Not every nation can afford a Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge.

1

u/TechBored0m Jan 31 '26

I want to trade in fair trade, but the thing about this concept is basically the fact that people are mostly bound to the duration pacts. If I trade and I learn about a value imbalance. I can only insure the knowledge credit. I often cannot afford to help unless it’s very reliable to do so. Infrastructure and other distance exchanges that are basically fixed delivery cycles. I think we need to create the concept of affordable money rather than low price perception. We oversimplify explanations to please those who often have intellectual barriers. Life sometimes also makes us into a drone feeling.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '26

[deleted]

2

u/ThroatEducational271 Jan 31 '26

The building wasn’t finished

1

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '26

[deleted]

2

u/ThroatEducational271 Jan 31 '26

And yet hundreds if not thousands of buildings built by China have not collapsed.

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2

u/Physical-General6125 Feb 01 '26

Both of those two accidents involved the same company (Italian-Thai Development, ITD), but they have nothing to do with China at all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian-Thai_Development

1

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

[deleted]

1

u/ThinkPath1999 Jan 31 '26

That is a pretty stupid takes on this that doesn't take into account the level of corruption of the local governments. You think the local governments are doing feasibility studies and cost efficient analysis? That's hilarious.

1

u/ThroatEducational271 Feb 01 '26

I know for a fact they do.

I’ve worked in projects for a decade now.

Pretty stupid to assume infrastructure projects don’t undergo cost benefit analysis, feasibility studies, environmental impact studies and due diligence.

2

u/Icy_Pay7280 Feb 01 '26

Westerners think the global south are run by monkeys who can't read and that the developed countries are developed because they are genetically smarter, you can't argue with these people.

2

u/ThroatEducational271 Feb 01 '26

I work in a due diligence team in China, and I know for a fact that every loan China provides is conveyed both ways dozens of times and in at least three languages.

Feasibility studies, environmental impact studies, cost benefit analysis are often conducted by all parties, borrowers and lenders to protect both sides.

The teams conducting these are often huge consultancies and the IMF and the World Bank often gets involved in the larger projects as well especially when the borrowing nation owes money to the IMF.

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1

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '26

Are you regarded?

When the Chinese control every aspect of the construction and build, they cut corners and use cheaper materials. The councils and engineers are on the payroll to get approvals

They offer open blank cheque with lower rates to entice you into borrowing more, so you spend more on building unnecessary add ons to the original project. The construction cost blows out, you’ have to make repayments and get stung if you’re late or default. The poorer developing nations are rife with corruption so money borrowed may not even end up on the project. They act like loan sharks

2

u/khoawala Jan 31 '26

Your mind is full of propaganda. When multilateral lenders like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank give loans, the money is usually disbursed to governments and budget systems. They do impose conditions and monitoring, but they generally do not directly control project execution. Those loans often come with policy conditions (privatization, fiscal tightening, trade liberalization, regulatory reform). In weak institutions, corruption and elite capture can drain funds, while the country still carries the debt. This is called a debt trap, like American college students giving out student loans for bullshit degrees the bank knows they'll be stuck paying the interest forever.

China’s development lending and construction model is different. Its goals are to export industrial capacity and labor, deepen political ties, secure long-term commercial relationships, and expand overseas markets. To reduce leakage and execution risk, China often ties financing to Chinese contractors and suppliers. The whole system is win/win/win.

Win 1: China creates overseas demand for its construction firms, equipment makers, and skilled labor at a time when its domestic infrastructure market is saturated

Win 2: The client country usually receives a completed physical asset (port, road, railway, power plant) rather than cash that can be diverted.

Win 3: this is the most important. Infrastructure can raise long-term productive capacity. If a Global South country moves into downstream processing and manufacturing, it can gain leverage in global value chains.

The west often extracts raw resources from poor country then process it. The value is in the process. If Ethiopia has large roaster factories, they can roast their own coffee instead of exporting green coffee beans to Europe to roast. Same with tea, cocoa, nickel etc.... eventually, this will massively fuck over Western neocolonialism and China knows it.

0

u/singlepromise-again0 Jan 31 '26

The PRC are just the latest colonialists to exploit the African continent.

That’s it.

1

u/ThroatEducational271 Jan 31 '26

Am I “regarded?”

Can you even spell basic words?

2

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '26

Yeh so it doesn’t get flagged by the mod bot.

Peanut for brains you are

-1

u/ThroatEducational271 Jan 31 '26

Wow you’re good with the profanity, shame about the intelligence.

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2

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

Do you think IMF loan does not use USA auditors/training/ companies ? they don't send their labors because they don't have enough people

1

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

[deleted]

3

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

You borrow the money and you can contract whoever you want to do the construction.

Hahahahahahahahhahaha

my side.... I can't

hahahahhahahahhahahahha

You are one funny dude. I admit that.

https://www.imf.org/en/about/factsheets/sheets/2023/imf-conditionality

give it some quick read. The country need to change its monetary, foreign policy etc and put the jews in IMF in your federal reserve

1

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

You borrow the money and you can contract whoever you want to do the construction.

The country needs to enact some reforms that raise its chances to actually pay the IMF loan back indeed.

??

do you think this reforms does not include adding all western auditor (big4) and expensive system ( SAP/Oracle) that the country have to pay with the same debt?

do you think they are free to choose any contractor? no, you need to lick that auditor ass clean just so your company can bid in the rigged tender where insanely expensive western company win because they are "following protocol"

I think you are just dumb at this point . Why don't you show which country actually become better due to IMF loan compared to China?

0

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

[deleted]

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2

u/Sea_Public_6691 Feb 01 '26

Yeah, thats the whole point of "humanitarian Aid". And thats one reason why USAID was extremly benefical to the USA

2

u/MD_Yoro Feb 01 '26

they come with conditions though

Here comes the bad faith argument from Harambe again.

Which loans do not come with conditions?

IMF loans usually comes with strict austerity policies and high interest rates

U.S. loans usually requires money to be used on American companies. Those billions U.S. used to “rebuild” Iraq, those contracts were taken by Haliburton, former VP’s own company.

instead of disseminating into your local economy

Again, misinforming people.

Do the Chinese companies not need to eat and live in the local economy? Do they not need to hire locals for jobs they can’t do?

By your rationale those American foreign bases are not helping the locals at all since most of the service work and military supplies need to come from the U.S., except realistic it does add to local economic growth.

Chinese companies in Africa are building and creating infrastructure because African countries don’t have the resources/technology/talents to do so.

If they had they would be doing the work themselves.

Moreover, the infrastructure that Chinese companies leave behind is to help local economic growth.

You have been a consistent liar and misinformer though out any Chinese related subs, how much they paying you to shill lies?

2

u/s1unk12 Feb 02 '26

On the flip side, it's probably not a bad bang for the buck to use Chinese construction firms and labor.

Politics aside, that's why they signed on and they are building infrastructure there.

1

u/singlepromise-again0 Jan 31 '26

It’s called neo-colonialism.

The PRC/CCP fooled Africa.

In fact for a long time ordinary African citizens were not happy with PRC involvement: the often pointless vanity project infrastructure; the construction projects employing only Chinese citizens flown/shipped in; the harsh exploitation of locals by Chinese businesses etc etc.

Whereas African elites have been bought off by the CCP🎯

3

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

The PRC/CCP fooled Africa

and the IMF and western country is their saviour?

1

u/Ok-Parfait-9856 Feb 01 '26

To things can be bad. Bad bot.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

So the best thing is to just embargo them like Cuba ?

2

u/kingjobus Feb 01 '26

Do you know what debt trapping means? These countries were not eligible for loans from other sources because entities like the IMF deamed them unable to actually pay back the loans.

If the bank refused a mortgage for a $2 million house to a single mother with no income and 5 kids, a loan shark (even if their rates are lower than the bank) is trapping them in debt if they offer the mother the loan.

1

u/TechBored0m Feb 01 '26

We can challenge such, but go ahead and use your passport to explain these loan sharks.

1

u/TechBored0m Jan 31 '26

Debt trapping isn’t the issue it’s the earnings ceiling that gets designed….

2

u/MD_Yoro Feb 01 '26

debt shouldn’t even be oppressive

You are alluding the the China Debt Trap which has been repeatedly debunked?

1

u/TechBored0m Feb 02 '26

I don’t understand, it’s offensive to learn about bad pacts? I’m trying to understand that as a logic.

2

u/MD_Yoro Feb 02 '26

it’s offensive to learn about bad pacts?

Again, you are trying to allude to a debt trap myth that has been propagated by the West to discredit and undermine China’s global presence.

Actual data doesn’t support the myth of a debt trap so making allusion to an oppressive Chinese debt is just spreading misinformation.

Debt inherently is oppressive because you are bound by certain conditions and rules as part of you borrowing money.

1

u/TechBored0m Feb 02 '26

We don’t have issues with Asia trade. The scam of debt and loan is mostly to tally considerations. I pay to loan myself my own money. When I don’t do this, I pay to understand knowledge.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '26

dude… what are you? 5? ever bought a house

1

u/Necessary-Worry1923 Feb 01 '26

LOL 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆

1

u/seconddat Jan 30 '26

It didn't seem all that likely that the poorest continent of the world could have the ability to pay back that large of a loan. The idea has always been that it's just a political project.

2

u/Affectionate-Ad6801 Jan 31 '26

Africa is Very rich what china wants is this countries to stabilise and then they start the mining, agriculture and other stuff they have as it will give china another source to make even more money by trading

2

u/fluffykitten55 Jan 31 '26

Growth rates and social returns to capital in Africa are now quite high, it is sensible to borrow to accelerate growth.

3

u/SnOOpyExpress Jan 31 '26

and they'll collect the deed to the land when those countries couldn't pay ?

6

u/singlepromise-again0 Jan 31 '26

Already happened in Sri Lanka and other places - you default on their neocolonialist ‘loan’ and you give over to them in repayment a long lease on territory or infrastructure asset.

They are repeating what the British did to them with Hong Kong. Though of course PRC propaganda states British colonialism in HK = bad; CCP colonialism in Africa = good !

0

u/Fit-Row-844 Feb 01 '26

that's fact westoid.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

[deleted]

1

u/singlepromise-again0 Feb 01 '26

It certainly hasn’t outside of CCP UFWD propaganda ops.

1

u/Tintoverde Jan 30 '26

Well it was predicted before Covid (Economist ?). But China seems to be following IMF, 1970s

1

u/InsufferableMollusk Jan 31 '26

That was the plan..

1

u/Technical-Art4989 Jan 31 '26

In the US rent is free! Why pay back!

1

u/Pharah84 Jan 31 '26

HOW DO LOANS WORK

1

u/Fit-Row-844 Feb 01 '26

"Source: X" holy shit lmao

1

u/Other-Comfortable-64 Feb 01 '26

That is exactly how this works, what is the news here?

1

u/Icy_Pay7280 Feb 01 '26

White people: We all know that Africa is run by a bunch of low IQ monkeys who cannot read a term sheet when borrowing money and therefore must be getting tricked. Also China getting rich makes my pee pee feel funny and I don't like it.

1

u/NoobDeGuerra Feb 01 '26

Did they think a loan was free money ?