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There are two key reasons for this discrepancy, which in turn have implications for the FOCAC Summit this month.Įnjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. By comparison, investment flows attract far less attention, despite amounting to a third of the loans.ĭata from the Statistical Bulletin of China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment. Loans from China to Africa – estimated at $153 billion between 2000-2019 – have dominated headlines.
That makes China Africa’s fourth largest investor, ahead of the United States since 2014. Over the same period, Chinese FDI stocks in Africa grew nearly 100-fold over a 17-year period – from $490 million in 2003 to $43.4 billion in 2020, peaking in 2018 at $46.1 billion.
Chinese FDI flows to Africa declined in 2019 to $2.7 billion, and then – despite the COVID-19 pandemic – swung up again to $4.2 billion in 2020. Since 2003, the earliest date official data is available, annual flows of Chinese foreign direct investment to Africa has risen significantly – from a mere $74.8 million in 2003 to $5.4 billion in 2018. At the same time, however, a quiet transformation has been taking place: Investors have begun to dominate China-Africa finance. The Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), a gathering of Chinese and African officials that has been held seven times (including three leaders’ summits) since its inauguration in 2000, has always been known – and occasionally chastised – for being highly government-focused.