This is a familiar pattern. International financial institutions socialise risk and privatise profit, while invoking development rhetoric to justify fossil fuel expansion in the Global South. Similar projects would be politically untenable in the Global North

The public confrontation between senior officials, the establishment of inquiries and the intense public debate surrounding the allegations all indicate that accountability mechanisms, although imperfect, are still functioning

As foreign banks retreat from the continent, local lenders are stepping up to fill the gap