Opaque credit deals are undermining the continent’s economic growth, the president of African Development Bank has said
Loans offered to African governments in exchange for oil and other minerals are contributing to the continent’s crippling debt levels, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina has warned.
Adesina, a Nigerian economist and banking expert, criticised the use of “asymmetrical” and “non-transparent” resource-backed loans in an interview published by Semafor Africa on Wednesday.
“I think it’s time for us to have debt transparency accountability and make sure that this whole thing of these opaque natural resource-backed loans actually ends, because it complicates the debt issue and the debt resolution issue,” he said.
According to Adesina, the continent’s external debt surged to $824 billion in 2021, with some countries allocating 65% of thei
