Be careful of China deals – US Economist warns Ghana

A US economist, Professor Brian Dwight Baugus, has urged Ghana to be vigilant when signing agreements with China.

According to him, though Ghana is better placed in terms of signing agreements with China compared to other African countries, some of those agreements with China have become a liability adding that it is imperative for government to do due diligence in signing agreements with China.

Prof. Baugus made the comments in an interview with Starr News at the sidelines of the National Dialogue on the Ghana Beyond Aid organized by the Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI) in Koforidua.

“The Chinese presence here, they are working primarily with your government and a lot of prosperity, a lot of money they are bringing is not penetrating into the lower ranks and so…where is that money and what are they spending on or are they investing in businesses, I see a few but most of them seem to be government to government activities so that they can have access to resources that they want.

“They are giving some money to your government to cover for something that maybe they should have done or can’t or would like to do or in some cases in other countries it’s almost like personal bribe.

“This is probably not going to do much good for the people as far as developing their business, developing their prosperity, developing their activities [is concerned].”

The US economist added that no country can develop with aid but rather through trade and production and for Ghana beyond Aid to be achieved, Ghana must trade, import products that are expensive for a country to produce, and export products that are cheaper for other countries to produce while building the human resources and creating the enabling environment for the citizens to innovate.