African Economies Set Back by China's Slow Down

The New York Times published on 25 January 2016 an article titled "African Economies, and Hopes for New Era, Are Shaken by China" by Norimitsu Onishi. 

The article focuses on the decrease in the value of trade between China and Africa for 2015.  It reports that China exported $102 billion to Africa in 2015 and imported only $67 billion for a total of $169 billion.  The article did not provide the source of the trade numbers.

This compares, however, to total trade in 2014 of $222 billion according to China's official number or $203 billion according to IMF Direction of Trade statistics.  Whatever number is used for 2014, the 2015 figure is not only a sharp drop, but demonstrates a troubling trade deficit for Africa.  Much of the decrease in China's imports from Africa is due to lower oil and mineral prices.