US companies active in Africa complain that they can't get support from the US government's official export credit agency, US Exim Bank, the way Chinese exporters and firms appear to get support from China Eximbank. Well, now I see why. While China Eximbank has been lining up billions for Chinese firms to get business in some of Africa's oil rich countries (Angola, Sudan), the US Exim Bank was apparently arranging a $5 billion loan for a joint venture between US firm Dow Chemicals and Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company. (We know the Chinese provide finance with no strings attached. I wonder what kind of governance conditions we put on our mega-loans to this authoritarian dictatorship? I also suppose this wasn't viewed as "giving 'aid' to get access to oil" on our part?) With Saudi Arabia soaking up $5 billion, it's no wonder US exporters had to make due with far less when they wanted to do business in Africa. US Exim Bank provided only $1.4 billion for all of Africa in 2011.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
US Eximbank $5 Billion Loan ... for Saudi Arabia
Follow me on Twitter @D_Brautigam. Professor and Director, International Development Program, Johns Hopkins University/SAIS; Visiting Professor, University of Bergen, Norway; and author of The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa (Oxford U. Press, 2009, 2011). A China scholar, I first went to Africa in 1983 to research Chinese engagement and never stopped. © Deborah Brautigam 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.
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I wonder what kind of governance conditions we put on our mega-loans to this authoritarian dictatorship?låna
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