Posted on 08/28/2002 1:20:09 AM PDT by BlackJack
Nigeria has said it can no longer afford to service its $33bn foreign debts because of plunging oil revenues and the failure of some of its privatisation plans.
Consequently, the country has suspended payments on its debts, said Central Bank governor Joseph Sanusi.
Last month Nigeria - one of the world's largest oil-producing nations - held foreign exchange reserves of only slightly more than $8bn, down about a fifth since December. The external sector of the economy was under pressure during the period under review.
Mr Sanusi said he had decided to halt all debt repayments rather than to eat further into the reserves.
Most of Nigeria's debt is owed to foreign governments, members of the Paris Club of official creditors.
Earlier this year, Nigeria parted company with the International Monetary Fund about how best to achieve a turn-around in its economic fortunes.
Yea but the $33 bn., they got from us....Sell YOUR oil then pay up.
It's a source of never-ending amazement to me that the Western governments continue to pretend that these folks are capable of maintaining a civilized society.
The real reason for such pretense is, of course the intrinsic charm of the countries in question, which originally drove the colonization of the place. Nigeria's charm is measured mostly by the 55-gallon barrel. Other places feature a charming profusion of carats or troy ounces, or quaint cottage industries based on refractory metals.
Sure, you'll find the occasional (and invariably Western-educated) able statesman. You might even find a group of them, who might be able to maintain a government for a few years. Kenya seems to demonstrate that it's possible to maintain a relatively stable, if authoritarian, government. There have been only two post-colonial presidents in the past 40 years: Jomo Kenyatta, and Daniel Arap Moi, whose longevity in office is due almost entirely to their success in suppressing internal opposition. (It doesn't hurt, either, that Kenya had the most gradual and thorough de-colonization experience.)
There are many, many honest, decent, hard-working people in Africa. But for the most part Africans do not have any political tradition based on rule of law. They're still steeped in their ancient tribal customs, and as has been demonstrated with awful and bloody regularity, those tribal ties still bind very tightly.
The problem is that we want their stuff, and the only way to get it is to prop up governments of people with whom we can deal -- however many bribes it takes, and however many people they oppress.
nice thought, but its too late for anything except 'thinning of the herds' by whatever mix of factors-also might throw in some violent force into the mix, for our security concerns.
I think this is happening now.
Now, the Boers are under tremendous pressure. As someone commented earlier, they have a love for that particular patch of land. They have the brains, I am just wondering how well they are organized. If osama can obtain suitcase nukes (I don't think he has any, but that's another story), why can't the Boers acquire/develope their own WMD's like they once did? Wouldn't use of such weapons trump anything the indiginous revolutionaries might try?
Just asking.
kinda, but a question for ya: ya think US stock market would be helped by an acceleration of the tempo of these factors?
Not, that's not enough said. Yes, they are black, but they're not exactly communists. This is the first generation of democratically elected rulers, and they've been trying to privatize government services. After decades of military mismanagement, they've been having all sorts of problems. And the predominantly Muslim north of the country has been threatening to secede. But you can't call them communists, and you can't dismiss their government simply because of skin color.
'pity, that'.
least i'm glad to not hear the tripe that we need'em for our export markets....
A fine fantasy. It fell to a looting elite like so much else in that haunted continent. And now instead of exporting wealth it's importing it and defaulting on repayment. And naturally they're falling back on the old whipping boy, colonialism.
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