Originally posted by Maverick
Loans are great but only work when there is an ability to repay them and the interest without bankrupting the debtor. What has the majority of Africa , or at least the section being considered, got to use to repay any loans?
Natural resources.
Aluminium, copper, diamonds, emeralds, gold, iron, lead, oil, phosphates, silver, timber, tin, uranium, zinc.....I'm sure the list goes on.
Problem is it takes a large whack of money to establish the infrastructure required to turn those resources into cold cash.
The African people (as a general rule) are dirt poor and havent got the resources(money) to get the ball rolling.
Maybe an influx of Chinese cash and technical knowledge will kick start the whole show.
Of course, there is allso the problem of getting them to stop killing each other long enough to put in a day's work, but that is an entirely differant problem, and one that may actually be made infinately worse by establishing industry in Africa.