African Development Bank Head Calls for End to Resource-Backed Loans

File image of African Development Bank Group President Akinwuni Adesina. Nipah Dennis / AFP

Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, urged leaders on the continent to end the practice of exchanging raw materials for development, a practice known as resources-for-loans that was pioneered on a truly massive scale by China.

“They are just bad, first and foremost, because you can’t price the assets properly,” Adesina told The Associated Press in Lagos, Nigeria, last week. “If you have minerals or oil under the ground, how do you come up with a price for a long-term contract? It’s a challenge.”

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by Eric Olander

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