African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1113 Big Loan
However, this does not overlap with Kwell's business. After all, he is just a business manager of a small bank, and he needs a medium if he wants to intervene in the economy of Maputo.

So he asked Roger, "Mr. Roger, what is the main content of your investment promotion this time?"

Rogge said: "There are two directions. One is to hope that someone will come to our city of Maputo to invest and build factories. The other is to introduce funds for the development of enterprises."

The second point Roger said made Kerwill's eyes light up. He said, "Look at our Rooney Bank. Although it is not a big bank, it is still powerful."

"Hmm!" Rogge didn't expect Kwell to make a suggestion at this time. Kwell was just a receptionist arranged by the Berlin City Government. Rogge originally planned to conduct business at the cocktail party.

However, no matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. Kwell, who was arranged by the Berlin City Government, is probably not a small figure.

Rogge thought carefully for a while and then said, "If you can participate in the investment in our city, as long as it complies with the regulations, we will definitely welcome it. However, I am afraid that there is nothing in our delegation that meets the requirements of your bank's investment."

The main reason is that Rooney Bank is not strong enough. The people who can come to represent Maputo City in investment promotion this time are basically from large-scale enterprises in East Africa.

Rogge's words made Kerwill's heart darken, but then he heard Rogge say: "But you are not without a chance. Our business delegation to Berlin is actually just a beginning."

"Now, under the guidance of policies, Maputo City certainly hopes to attract more foreign-funded enterprises. As for the banking industry, it is also beginning to be liberalized in East Africa. You may be able to conduct related business in Maputo City."

"As far as I know, there are many entrepreneurs in China nowadays. Many of them are ordinary people who lack funds. If you start your business in East Africa, it will be very promising."

"Of course, this has risks, but now is a good time, and high risks also mean great opportunities. In other areas, you can also directly purchase our East African national bonds, but there are too many people who want to have a piece of this cake. You can also consider our city government's development bonds."

Since the Third Five-Year Plan, the threshold for introducing foreign investment in East Africa has been significantly lowered. Now East Africa is like a Pixiu, it can eat as much as it can get.

Before 1911, East Africa's total foreign debt was less than billion Rhine guilders, or just over million pounds, and much of it was accumulated mainly from foreign trade.

This debt level can be said to be very low in the world. Among the major countries in the world, the debt owed by the East African government is almost negligible compared with other countries.

In 1911 alone, East Africa's debt increased by million Rhine guilders, and this figure was still growing rapidly.

In addition to the East African government's massive debt-raising for development, the conditions for local governments to borrow from abroad have also been relaxed. Although there are many restrictions, the scale is quite considerable. After all, there are more than 40 provinces and hundreds of cities in East Africa.

It would be impossible for the East African government to take care of so many provinces and cities alone. So if they want to develop, borrowing money from abroad is one of the easier ways.

The city of Maputo is one of them. This year, the Maputo Municipal Government alone sent five teams to Germany, Britain, France, the United States and Austria-Hungary.

After hearing the two plans provided by Roger, Kwill was also very tempted. He said to Roger, "Director Roger, if our bank conducts business in Maputo, will there be any trouble?"

Rogge comforted him, "You can rest assured about this. The domestic economic policy is relatively relaxed now, and there are many opportunities. As long as you don't break the law, it's basically a business that is guaranteed to make money."

"East Africa is a huge market with a population of more than 100 million. Compared with Europe, its economic activity is relatively poor, and many industries are blank."

In the final analysis, the East African government hopes to develop its own light industry with the help of funds from other countries. East Africa does not lack talents, markets and technologies, but what it lacks most is start-up capital. Most of the industrial investment of the East African government is concentrated in infrastructure, heavy industry and agriculture, and it is difficult to take into account light industry.

Rogge suggested to Kwell: "If possible, you can send someone to our city to investigate. There are many Germans and Portuguese living in Maputo. This is my business card. If you go to Maputo in the future, you can contact me."

Roger handed a piece of paper to Kwell, on which was Roger's office address and phone number. Nowadays, telephones are basically popular in East African government agencies, so communication is relatively convenient.

Kwill carefully accepted the business card. Rogge's identity as the director of Maputo City Investment Promotion Office was worthy of Kwill's attention.

……

There are many cities in East Africa like Maputo that directly send out "diplomatic" teams. In 1912, there were more than government-organized business delegations in the whole of East Africa, almost covering developed regions such as Europe and the United States.

The East African central government has been borrowing money from abroad on a large scale. Borrowing at the national level has always been high, often reaching hundreds of millions of Rhine guilders. Although the value of the Rhine guilder is relatively low among major countries in the world, in the early 20th century, the gold content of most countries' currencies was much higher than that of previous currencies.

Rhine City.

Siewert reported to Ernst: "Now our country's debt is as high as 2.2 billion Rhine guilders, and this does not include local debts. The country's external debt is as high as more than 3 billion Rhine guilders."

"Such a high debt amount is too much for us, much more than in the past, but it has also activated the development of our local economy. Many cities are expanding their industries, especially light industry, and the total freight volume of our transportation industry has increased significantly."

More than 3 billion Rhine guilders is actually just over 300 million pounds, which is definitely an astronomical figure. At the same time, the United States owed Britain almost the same amount of money. Of course, in addition to owing money to Britain, the United States also owed a lot of debts to France, Germany and other countries, which probably added up to more than 1 billion pounds.

So the national debt of East Africa looks shocking, but East Africa can still control it, and can even borrow more, and East Africa has the ability to take it on.

In this regard, Ernst said: "Although these debts are large, they are still within our acceptable range. The most important thing now is to convert these funds into real industries."

"Moreover, in my opinion, we can borrow at least another three billion pounds of debt, and the government will focus on loans from the UK, France and Germany."

Ernst's words made other people in the East African government feel terrified. Now the debt of the East African government is already an astronomical figure in the eyes of everyone. If it doubles as Ernst said, no one knows how to pay it back in the future.

In fact, what Ernst said was already quite conservative. In Ernst's view, no matter how much was borrowed now, as long as the European war broke out, East Africa would be able to pay off the debts, and might even make a fortune after the war.

However, to be on the safe side, Ernst did not dare to gamble too much. In case the European war did not break out, or the scale of the war was not as large as in the previous life, and the duration was not as long, it was very likely to backfire on the East African economy.

Therefore, the "big borrowing" plan formulated by Ernst is actually very conservative. Now Ernst only prays that the European war can develop as it did in history. For East Africa, this is an important opportunity for East Africa to surpass Europe in the economic field.

Just like the United States in its previous life, it owed Europe a huge debt before the war, and after World War I, Europe owed the United States a huge debt instead.

Therefore, this round of large-scale borrowing in East Africa is actually Ernst's advance layout for the war. Now East Africa has only one goal, which is to expand its own industrial capacity and then compete with the United States for the market during World War I.

(End of this chapter)