China’s US$19bn ‘joint venture’ not loan – Bawumia

The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has emphasised that the US$19bn which will be given to Ghana by the Republic of China is a joint venture between the two countries and not a loan.

He was speaking at a China-Africa Joint Research and Exchange Programme organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) on the theme: “Building Resilient Industries and Infrastructure for Economic Transformation in Africa: The Role of China.”

“We developed this new financing model…we are saying we can’t borrow, so essentially what we need was a new way forward and we sought to leverage less than 5 percent of our bauxite to unlock close to 20 billion dollars.”

READ ALSO: Prices of goods go up by 20.5%

He explained that there was no way Ghana was going to borrow any further for the said investment, hence the decision of a joint venture.

“We could not ask China to give us aid to finance this quantum of investment we needed. We could not borrow this quantum of money we needed, but we knew we had bauxite sitting in the ground.”

“The goal of government is to leverage our natural resources for economic transformation,” Bawumia added.

Bawumia said Ghana has over 460 million metric tonnes of alumina, which could fetch the country about 460 billion dollars when refined.

“We have immediate infrastructure needs of say between US $15 to 20 billion in areas such as rail, water, energy and so on. So we have US $460 billion potentially sitting in the ground somewhere and we need US$ 20billion for our rapid economic transformation.”

“So we need development partners to refine this bauxite, but we want to develop it in Ghana. That is why we want to set up a refinery in Ghana so we can refine and export.”

Members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have criticised the Nana Addo government for borrowing such huge amount from the Chinese.

They argue that such borrowing could make Ghana a HIPC nation again.

China’s US$19bn ‘joint venture’ not loan – Bawumia

The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has emphasised that the US$19bn which will be given to Ghana by the Republic of China is a joint venture between the two countries and not a loan.

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Recommended articles

Trailblazing Prof. Jane Agyemang: The political powerhouse shaking up the NDC!

John Mahama can’t succeed me as President because I defeated him twice – Akufo-Addo

I won’t be a driver’s mate to John Mahama – Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyeman

‘Dumsor’ challenges will end in a few days – ECG Board Chairman assures Ghanaians

We’ll prosecute corrupt appointees under Akufo-Addo’s govt – Prof. Opoku-Agyeman

How First and Second Ladies rejected and refunded all allowances given to them since 2017

Russian Deputy Defence Minister, Ivanov detained for accepting large bribes

Vice President Dr. Bawumia meets Pope Francis in Rome

Payment of salaries to spouses of President, Vice President illegal – Supreme Court