United States Senate to Block IMF Bailouts for Nations Defaulting on Chinese Debt

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16 Senators in the US have urged the President to block IMF bailouts to countries that obtained loans from China under their Belt and Road infrastructural development plan.

Among those mentioned by the US Senators was Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Djibouti. At present Zambia is seeking at US$1.3 billion bailout from the IMF, however at present we already have 8 billion in Chinese loans.

China have always maintained that the loans are meant to develop Zambia and are for friendly countries to link global trade routes. However, the US and another of other critics say they are means of exercising power over vulnerable nations. The US are calling them ‘predatory loans,’ used to keep nations like Zambia trapped, unable to pay up and so dependent on the Chinese nation.

Already rumours are rife that we have offered up KK International Airport, ZESCO and ZNBC as collateral against these loans.

Secretary Pompeo told CNBC news channel last week that Washington was watching. “Make no mistake, we will be watching what the IMF does. There’s no rationale for IMF tax dollars — and associated with that, American dollars that are part of the IMF funding – for those to go to bail out Chinese bond holders or China itself,” he said.

 

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