THE CLAIM
The edition of Tuesday, May 16, 2023 of the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, refers to a piece of news with the following headline: «AFRICANS UNDERSTAND THAT CHINESE MONEY HAS A TRAP, SAYS TAAG CEO», as the angolan newspaper AngoNotícias republished the same article as well.
THE FACTS
In the first place, we were unable to ascertain whether or not TAAG’s CEO made this statement during the interview given to that Brazilian newspaper, or whether a statement was made that resembles the headlines of the previously referenced newspapers, therefore, the aim of this fact-check is not directed at him in particular. The purpose of this fact-check is to clarify some arguments around the old claim that loans from the Republic of China are coated with a kind of trap, the so-called debt trap.
The concept of Debt Trap, allegedly mentioned by the CEO of TAAG in the interview given to Folha de S.Paulo, is a term used to describe a relationship in the international domain in which a creditor Country (or an Institution) assigns monetary loans to the another country with the aim of advancing its own interests.
Since the creditor country in question is the Republic of China and the African countries that have taken the loan, let us analyze some of the infrastructure built with “Chinese money”.
| COUNTRIES | PROJECTS |
| Angola | Airports; Ports; Hydroelectric stations; Reconstruction of the Land Route; |
| Cameroon | Dams; Ports; |
| Ethiopia | Railways; Hydroelectric stations; |
| Ghana | Railways; Hydroelectric stations; |
| Kenya | Railways; Port of Mombasa; |
| Zambia | Ports; Power Stations; |
THE VERDICT
The debate around this issue is a constant among Management academies and related areas of study, and apparently, it also has the potential to become the subject of discussion in the Aviation sector.
At last, there is no evidence that supports the argument that the loans taken by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund do not contain clauses aimed at achieving the creditor institution’s own interests, and also, there hasn’t been any evidence that suggests the existence of this “trap” for the case of Angola.
Therefore, we conclude that the argument is false, but we do encourage the debate.
ANGOAVIAÇÃO 