Africa’s rising and unsustainable debt causes tension between World Bank and lenders
- The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have expressed concerns about rising debt levels in Sub-Saharan Africa
- They have also raised concerns about China's influence in key areas in Africa's infrastructural projects
- The World Bank also indicated that there is a lack of transparency in China's dealings in Africa
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YEN.com.gh has learned that Africa’s debt is increasing is causing a rift between the World Bank and other lenders.
The World Bank reports that Sub-Saharan Africa’s total external debt increased by 150% to $583 billion in 2018 from $236 billion 10 years earlier.
Per a report by qz.com, there are fears about rising unsustainable debt as the average public debt increased from 2010-2018 by 40% to 59% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
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The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have expressed worry about the lack of transparency, weak debt management, and a lack of capacity in an increasing number of low-income countries as the average public debt increased from 2010-2018 by 40% to 59% of GDP.
They have also raised concerns about China’s influence in Africa with regard to sources of capital.
This comes in the wake of offers of convenient packages of funding through state-owned enterprises.
This often leads to the availability of funds for much-needed infrastructure projects across the continent.
According to David Malpass, president of World Bank, this comes at a time when there is a lack of transparency.
Source: UGC
In other news, in the year 2019, the app industry recorded 204 billion downloads as consumers spent an estimated $120 billion in this regard.
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The details, shared by App Annie’s recently released annual report dubbed ‘State of Mobile’ also showed that people now spend 3 hours and 40 minutes on the average, using apps.
Per a report by techcrunch, this creates competition for the television industry as apps are now a big business venture and not merely an excuse to pass idle hours.
This is reportedly over six times higher than companies without a focus on mobile. There have however been some recorded challenges in the mobile industry.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), once examined a mobile voting app, Voats, and concluded that it was riddled with flaws.
The app was designed to help tally votes in selected states as part of a pilot project aimed at introducing mobile voting.
The flaws reportedly created the opportunity for hackers to manipulate votes, change ballots and even block them on the blindside of voters.
Hackers could also create a tainted paper trail that eventually created complications when it comes to auditing.
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