A report released May 13 by the Office of the Inspector General for the US Export Import (EXIM) Bank revealed not only the complete economic policy failure toward the African continent, but also the lack of intent to change it. The bank, established in 1934, once had a history of financing development projects in the so-called Third World, increasing productive employment in both the US and the target country as a result.
In examining the last ten years (2014-2023), the IG found that, not only did the bank’s lendings to the entire continent amount to a measly $1.9 billion (mostly in loan guarantees, not even fresh loans), but for four of those ten years (mid-2014 to mid-2018), the bank lacked the administrative capability to even authorize new loans, had any been requested. Over that ten years, the continent of Africa, with its 1.4 billion people, received only 7.5% of the bank’s total lending. Compounding the failure, in 2020, just months after the lending authority of the bank was reëstablished, the globe was struck with the global lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic.
