Be careful when requesting for Chinese loans - US warns Nigeria, others

Be careful when requesting for Chinese loans - US warns Nigeria, others

- Rex Tillerson, United States secretary of state, has warned African countries to be careful when requesting for loans from China

- Tillerson stated that it is important that African countries carefully consider the terms of the agreements before taking the loans

- He said that the United States is not in any way attempting to keep Chinese ‘dollars’ from Africa

The United States secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, on Thursday, March 8, warned African countries to be wary of the Chinese government and its loan facilities.

Tillerson told African countries to weigh Chinese loans carefully, adding that the United States was not trying to keep Chinese investment away from the continent, Premium Times reports.

Legit.ng gathered that the US secretary has been criticising China and its investment in Africa in the past few days. It was learnt that the Chinese government has pumped billions into infrastructure projects across Africa.

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On Thursday, March 8, Tillerson told news conference in Ethiopia that African leaders need to carefully consider their agreements with China.

He said: “We are not in any way attempting to keep Chinese ‘dollars’ from Africa, but it is important that African countries carefully consider the terms of those agreements and not forfeit their sovereignty.”

According to him, Chinese investments do not bring significant job creation locally, adding that if a government accepts a Chinese loan and “gets into trouble”, it can lose control of its own infrastructure or its own resources through default.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that China gave Nigeria a loan of $4.5 billion to buy appropriate farming tools to boost local agriculture. The tools included: tractors, bulldozers, graders, irrigation pumps and so on.

Chief Audu Ogbeh, the minister of agriculture, and Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state made the announcement on Tuesday, April 4, 2017.

Ogbeh said: "We came to brief the president on developments following our visit to China in April last year and our negotiations on a number of issues to deal with machineries for agricultural development."

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Source: Legit.ng

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