In the last 10 centuries, at least in 6, China has dominated the world economically. Of course, China scored some big own-goals, and lost its trajectory. But in the last half-century, China is back. The modern rise of China is unprecedented in history because China developed in practically all vectors within the economic scene.
Looking deeper, no global international development organization funded the new China. India has picked the same playbook, focusing on what it has rather than what it can get via loans. Suddenly, India is rising: “India has not received financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 1993. India completed all of its IMF loan repayments by May 31, 2000”
In an Igbo novel, Uwadiegwu, the author dropped a great hint: when you borrow, go to your kinsman so that if the debt goes bad, he may lock you up but at the same time he would be expected to take care of your family since he is your kinsman! Good People, debt is better when closer at home. America borrows from US banks, and broad financial institutions, and it will take the taxes those companies pay to service the debts. But in Nigeria, our foreign borrowing is nothing but pain.
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Nigeria: can we learn from China and India on these loans? Unless you are running a lending business where your capital is expected to be debt, running a company on loans with huge interest rates is largely a lost mission in Africa because it hardly works! These loans are tripping Africa badly and will make it hard to have nice cities like this one in China, via industrialization and urbanization.
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