Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

As relations between China and Africa continue to deepen, the continent keeps borrowing from Beijing, which is eager to lend more. However, critics have been up in arms over this debtor-creditor affair.A narrative that has gained traction seems to paint a picture of a continent that is biting more than it can chew.It says the loans taken are of a size that with time it will simply become impossible for African countries to repay the debts.While there is general agreement that Chinese footprints across Africa have left the continent much better than they found it, in recent years, critics have advanced a perspective that can only cause panic.There are those of the view that there is too much borrowing which will eventually paralyze development as African countries buckle under the weight of the debt.Sustainable development being about striking the right numbers in terms of budgets and timelines, statistics paint a different picture insofar as Africa's external debt is concerned.In fact, what Africa owes China is still a very small percentage of the continent's total external debt.According to the World Bank's international debt statistics, by the end of 2016 Africa's total external debt was a staggering $6.22 trillion.The China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies estimates that between 2000 and 2016, Chinese loans to Africa accounted for an estimated 1.8 percent of Africa's total external debt.These figures do not show that African governments are on a borrowing spree from China.They are also not proof of a China keen on colonizing Africa through debt.There is, therefore, a need to unpack the narrative that Africa is plunging blindly into a debt trap set by China.The belief that once Africa is unable to repay the debts, China will take over assets acquired through these loans such as important coastal ports could not be further from the truth.First, the Eastern nation gives a combination of grants, interest-free loans and development loans specifically for the mega Belt and Road initiative (BRI).The BRI seeks to improve regional and international connectivity to strengthen trade by re-establishing old trading routes.Second, easy loans are extended on terms that are significantly more generous than market debt. The loans either come with very low interest rates or long grace periods for repayment.By looking to the East for loans and grants, the continent has simply diversified. In doing so, Africa seems keen to adjust relations with traditional lenders.Perhaps China has become increasingly attractive as a lender and development partner because in just 40 years, the country has helped Africa overcome its most pressing problems.China has also achieved the fastest sustained expansion by a large economy in history. From this nation, Africa draws both inspiration and support that will help the continent transform through strategic development over time.Indeed Africa's history of overreliance on borrowing is not something to gloss over.For sustainable growth and expansion, Africa must look within and improve its own capabilities for domestic mobilization of resources.Interestingly, as the Chinese footprint across Africa expands, it seems to impact African countries' capacity for raising resources from within.In 2000 when China-Africa relations took a turn, growing from strength to strength, a good number of African countries made strides to raise resources internally.According to the Revenue Statistics in Africa 2018 which provides internationally comparable data for 21 African countries, the average tax-to-GDP ratio was an estimated 18 percent in 2016, a significant rise from about 13 percent in 2000.It is the objective of many developing countries to increase its tax-to-GDP ratio in order to reduce deficits in national budgets without necessarily increasing external borrowing.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommends that the ratio of public debt to GDP should not exceed 40 percent for developing countries.Of more importance not necessarily is the magnitude of external debt.China, the second largest economy and a significant global player, has a ratio of public debt to GDP that is more than 40 percent and yet there is no doubt that the country is on the right economic and development path.The important question is what developing countries across Africa are doing with the loans. According to the African Union, over $148 billion or approximately 25 percent of Africa's average GDP is lost to corruption.Until the continent successfully wages a sustained war against corruption and slays a dragon that seems to mutate every time, it will not be a question of how much is borrowed from China, but how much is lost to corruption.The author is a Kenya-based journalist. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn