confidentially speaking
The Africa Confidential Blog
More credit lines needed now
Blue Lines
Among the most stubborn collateral damage wrought by the West's
financial crisis of 2008 was the cutting of international credit lines
to Africa. The initial rationale for severing the lines was knee-jerk
and computational: if Western banks and ratings agencies had failed so
badly, African banks would probably have made the same errors. In fact,
some African financial institutions have demonstrated much higher
prudential standards than their Western counterparts. Doubtless the
cumulative effects of the 2008 crisis were to push down commodity
prices and with them, the revenue of many African governments.
A boost for African banks has been the fast-growing relationship
between them and the private and state financial institutions in Asia's
key economies, such as China, India, Japan and South Korea. Along with
higher foreign reserves and more robust monetary policies, that
provided Africa's state treasuries and banks with something of a
cushion.
But the failure to resolve many shortcomings in the West,
together with the slowdown in emerging markets, is redoubling their
impact on Africa's banks. Most of all, this is felt in more sharp cuts
to the number of international credit lines that African banks can
access. This quickly hits the local economies, particularly in East
Africa currently, slowing down trade and production. The credit line
crunch should be a leading topic at the African Development Bank's
annual meeting next month.
