Suppliers of poor quality Chinese products warned
From KASUBA MULENGA in BeijingTHE Export-Import Bank of China has threatened to stop giving concessional loans to Chinese companies that supply poor quality goods to Zambian consumers.
Export-Import Bank of China deputy division chief for the department of concessional loans Yi Yang said yesterday Zambian consumers of Chinese products should report Chinese companies that supply poor quality goods to the Chinese Embassy.
He said the Chinese Government’s policy on exported products forbids any firm to trade in poor quality goods as this depicts a bad picture about the country’s trade activities.
Mr Yi said his bank is concerned about continued reports of complaints from consumers of Chinese products in most African countries and that action should be taken against erring exporting firms.
He was speaking at Beijing Grand Hotel when he made a presentation on the practice of the Chinese Government’s concessional loans to participants of the on-going seminar for core officials overviewing Chinese-aided projects in Africa.
“The Export-Import Bank of China is the largest exporting financial institution in the world and is followed by the one in the United States of America.
But we are concerned about reports from consumers of Chinese products in many African countries that they are supplied with poor quality goods,” he said.
Mr Yi said affected consumers of Chinese products should report unscrupulous exporting firms to embassies in Africa as this will help the financial institution to know the firms involved and blacklist them.
“Once we get such information and know the firms involved in the illegal trade, we will immediately stop giving them loans. I am appealing to consumers of our products in Africa to report such firms to our embassies,” he said.
Mr Yi said the Export-Import Bank of China wants to ensure that all private companies that are given loans to export products to Africa engage in clean business as a way of boosting trade between China and various African countries.
And speaking earlier, China-Africa Development Bank managing director for the risk management department Li Dongya said China finds it difficult to provide investment in African countries that are prone to conflict.
Mr Li said this when he presented a paper on the outlook of the China-Africa Development Bank Fund.
He said his bank is skeptical about investing in war-prone African countries because it can lose all its investment capital in the event of a conflict erupting.
Mr Li said enhancing Chinese investment in African countries should not be derailed by language barrier because what is important is having a common target among all stakeholders.
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