Angolan economist Alves da Rocha believes that the Chinese model of economic development is the most suitable for Africa and classifies cooperation with Europe as “a failure”.
In an interview with Lusa, the director of the Center for Studies and Scientific Research (CEIC) of the Catholic University of Angola (UCAN) said that “China bothers many people,” warning that the world is changing, moving towards east and south.
Between 2000 and 2022, Angola concluded 258 loans with China, totaling 42 billion euros, representing more than a quarter (26.5%) of the total lent to Africa during this period, according to data collected by the Center for Policy Policy. at Boston University, and consulted by Lusa.
Alves da Rocha said China was initially attacked in Angola over the quality of its infrastructure, with attention now shifting to the issue of public debt, which “has been written off”.
He recalled that during the pandemic there was a Chinese moratorium followed by other countries and international institutions, and that Angola would “obviously have to resume payments to its creditors,” which will weigh on its finances.
“The problem that arises here lies more in the real economy,” he emphasized, since Angola, with the exception of the oil sector, does not have a productive and exporting sector that allows the country to have currency and pay off its debts pay.
“I do not believe that Angola will have any export capacity other than oil in the next 10 years,” except, he suggested, the energy sector.
“Therefore, the issue of debt repayment to China is normal, there was a moratorium and debt service resumed, but the point we need to see is what alternatives we should have created so that the resumption of payments would not have had so much interference . in the general state budget as it has been,” the researcher noted.
And he stressed that, despite the fact that China’s importance for Angola has decreased after João Lourenço was elected president and has become closer to the United States, this is the financing alternative that best suits the country.
“The Chinese model of economic development is much more suitable for Angola and Africa than the European or American model”, allowing more direct access to financing, Alves da Rocha emphasized, considering that “there is a failure” in the European model of cooperation -Africa , from which Europe has always benefited.
“And these chain reactions that we have seen outside, especially in the French-speaking countries, with coups d’état, as we have seen, are all the result of the failure of this model,” the academic said, highlighting “the vicious circle of expatriation and of technicians. mainly from Europe” to Angola.
On the other hand, ‘there has been a de-westernization of economic development for several years now, that is a fact. The centers of growth in the world economy, technological and scientific development are leaving the United States, the West and emigrating to the East,” he said, focusing on India and China.
“We, Africans, we in Angola, must follow this change in the orientation of the compass rose. It will no longer be oriented to the north, but to the east and south, and we must understand these signs.” warned the head of the CEIC.
Alves da Rocha highlighted the war in Europe, the creation of the BRIC+6 (bloc currently composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which will be expanded to six more countries), which Venezuela asked the world to abandoned “completely inside out”, highlighting concerns over oil reserves that are pushing Europe and the United States to turn to energy transition.
The economist also emphasized that cooperation with Europe on infrastructure has never worked, recalling that when the civil war ended in 2002, President José Eduardo dos Santos called on the international community to hold a donor conference to to help rebuild Angola. , faced with “an outright refusal from Western countries”.
“It was China that arrived here with $2 billion to help rebuild Angola’s infrastructure,” the expert noted, reinforcing: “The Chinese model gives us encouragement and hope to solve some of the problems we have encountered so far have not been able to solve”.
Source: DN
