Guyana doesn’t care about Chineses ‘Debt Trap’
… Continues to borrow sustainably – Dr. Singh
President Irfaan Ali (center) led a negotiating team in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping4
Kaieteur News – The Guyana Minister with responsibility for the Finance Sector, Dr. Ashni Singh, dismissed concerns raised by stakeholders that the country might fall prey to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – described by some western countries as debt trap diplomacy.
Dr. Singh gave his opinion on Monday during a live broadcast hosted by GlobeSpan24X7 and was specifically asked about the Initiative.
According to the senior Finance Minister, “Whoever we borrow from, whenever and wherever we borrow from, we are firmly committed to maintaining fiscal sustainability and debt.”
This, he says, is to meet obligations going forward, no matter “who we borrow from” and identify China, the international markets or the International Financial Institutions; he said this would be done in a way that would ensure that the country remained in a position to service its debts and debt payments
Defending the idea of borrowing, Dr. Singh was adamant that the proceeds of any loans secured would go towards infrastructure projects aimed at securing long-term benefits and reiterating government wisdom in its financial obligations.
Economies, he said, are grown oftentimes on the basis of borrowing and prudent debt contracting is the norm.
He said that his administration was aware of the difficulty of bringing a country out of bankruptcy to solvency, and he synthesized the economic landscape before the People’s Civic Party took office and said, “Going forward, we will continue to protect our debt carefully ok. sustainability. ”
The Finance Minister’s assurances come on the heels of a virtual meeting between Chinese and Guyanese Brass
idents, Xi Jinping and Dr. Irfaan Ali, on promoting a series of initiatives, including BRI – China’s controversial plan to build a worldwide supermarket.
Subsequently, the President’s Office reported that President Ali led a high-level ministerial team in the negotiations, one that included the Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, Dr. Ashni Singh, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd, and Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill.
The BRI was unveiled in 2013 by President Xi. Its official outline states that the initiative is “to promote the connectivity of Asian, European and African continents and their surrounding seas, establish and strengthen partnerships among the nations along the Belt and Road, establish a multi-dimensional, multi-layered and the connectivity of connectivity networks, and the realization of diverse, independent, balanced and sustainable development in these countries. “
Guyana signed on an instrument signing his intention to participate, in July 2018.
David Granger’s then minister, Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, now the Government Border Adviser, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese Ambassador to Guyana, Cui Jianchun, stating that Guyana would cooperate within a Framework the Silk. 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Economic and Road Belt.
Under the initiative, scores of countries appear to benefit from China’s multi-million dollar soft loans for road construction, bridges, airports, deep water ports and other infrastructure. Because the project has the potential to significantly affect global political and economic realities, it has become controversial, and has been hailed by the West as a manifestation of China’s debt trap diplomacy.
Kaieteur News has highlighted how China has been targeting weak and / or corrupt governments to sign off their initiative, signing unreasonable loans for mega-infrastructure projects. In 2018 alone, China acquired over 20 harbors and deep-water airports from several countries around the world. The country did this by lending huge sums of money to those countries, which were unable to repay within the specified period.
The country is accused of leveraging these huge loans, which it holds over small states around the world to seize assets and increase its military footprint. Developing countries from Pakistan to Djibouti, the Maldives to Fiji, all owe much to China. There are already examples of defaulters under pressure to give up asset management or allow military bases on their land.