Is Africa facing another debt crisis?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 3 October 2019
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s been almost 15 years since a successful campaign to erase the crushing debts of Africa’s poorest countries. Now, debt levels are again creeping up, thanks in part to a risky mix of easy credit and easy spending. We hear from a former Liberian cabinet minister, a Mozambican anti-corruption campaigner, an expert in Chinese financial flows to the continent and the World Bank’s chief economist for Africa.
Presenter: Neal Razzell
(Photo: Protestors call for debt relief in Durban, South Africa. Credit: Rajesh Jantilal/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the inquiry on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:03.1 | I'm Neil Riselle. |
| 0:04.4 | Each week, four expert witnesses answer one question from the news. |
| 0:09.3 | Are you ready to start a revolution? |
| 0:13.0 | Madonna, on stage before 200,000 people |
| 0:18.0 | and a global television audience estimated in the billions. |
| 0:22.0 | I said, are you ready? |
| 0:25.0 | It's June 2, 2005. |
| 0:28.0 | The Live Eight concerts are in full swing. |
| 0:31.0 | Music's biggest stars are demanding world leaders make poverty history. |
| 0:36.3 | A week later the group of eight industrialized countries announced a massive aid |
| 0:41.0 | program for Africa including debt relief for the poorest countries. |
| 0:46.3 | By 2015, 29 African countries had had their debts written off. But today African debt levels are again rising dramatically. By some |
| 0:57.4 | measures they're higher now than they were before their debts were written |
| 1:00.4 | off. So we're asking is Africa facing another debt crisis. |
| 1:07.0 | Part one, the need. |
| 1:13.0 | If you had a choice of countries to invest in Liberia wasn't really high on there. |
| 1:18.0 | Judea more used to be minister for public works in Liberia the small West African country that |
| 1:24.7 | emerged from civil war in 2003. Just driving downtown would take hours because |
| 1:31.6 | of how terrible the roads were. |
| 1:33.0 | Why? |
| 1:34.0 | Just because the main streets looked like you were driving on the moon, |
... |
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