Angolan Banks Add Chinese Yuan to Foreign-Currency Reserve Requirements

 360 Angola posted on 10 July 2026 an article titled "Angola's Central Bank Adds Chinese Yuan to Foreign-Currency Reserve Requirements."

The National Bank of Angola has determined that commercial banks operating in the domestic market must now include the Chinese renminbi (yuan) as an eligible currency for making mandatory foreign-currency reserve requirements.  This decision is an indication of Angola's deepening financial ties with China.

China Expands Yuan Clearing in Africa

 Reuters published on 26 June 2026 an article titled "China Approves Standard Bank, ICBC for Africa Yuan Clearing" by Colleen Goko.

China's central bank authorized South Africa's Standard Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to clear Renminbi across Africa, as Beijing steps up efforts to promote the global use of its currency.  Standard Bank and ICBC will operate jointly as the "Renminbi Clearing Bank of Africa" with authority to clear the currency in 19 African countries.

Mozambique Considers Converting Dollar Debt for Chinese Yuan

 Bloomberg published on 5 May 2026 an article titled "Mozambique Weighs Swapping Dollar Debt for Yuan in China Talks" by Tavares Cebola.

Mozambique is considering converting the $1.4 billion it owes China into yuan loans as part of a debt restructuring with its biggest bilateral creditor.  

China As an International Lender of Last Resort in Africa

 AIDDATA published in March 2023 a report titled "China As an International Lender of Last Resort" by Sebastian Horn, Bradley C. Parks, Carmen M. Reinhart, and Christoph Trebesch.

China has emerged as a key lender of last resort for a growing  number of developing countries.  Most of these rescue loans between 2000 and 2021 have gone to low and middle-income countries with significant debts outstanding to Chinese banks.  Of the 22 countries compiled by AIDDATA, only 7 (Angola, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, and Tanzania) are in Africa and of those only Egypt and Nigeria were major recipients of Chinese bank bailouts.  In total, the debtor countries received $240 billion in rescue lending--$170 billion mostly in renminbi extended by the People's Bank of China to central banks of countries in financial or macroeconomic distress and $70 billion from Chinese state-owned banks and commodity enterprises in mostly US dollar-denominated rescue loans.

The New York Times published on 27 March 2023 an article titled "After Doling Out Huge Loans, China Is Now Bailing Out Countries" by Keith Bradsher. 

This article discusses the AIDDATA study.  

China Moves into Africa's Digital Currency Market

 The Interpreter published on 17 November 2021 a commentary titled "China's Digital Currency: Next Stop, Africa?" by Cornelia Tremann.  

Chinese companies have acquired 50 percent of Africa's mobile phone market and are moving into Africa's mobile money space.

China's Belt and Road Initiative and Africa

The Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection in South Africa is preparing a report titled "Africa and the World: Navigating Shifting Geopolitics." It has just posted the chapter titled "China's Belt and Road Initiative: How Can Africa Advance Its Strategic Priorities?" by Philani Mthembu.

The author concludes that Africa can advance its interests through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), especially along the Indian Ocean perimeter given its strategic value for China's supply lines. African countries need to coordinate through their regional economic communities and the African Union in order to ensure that BRI projects advance the stratgic priorities agreed in Agenda 2063 and various regional strategies. African stakeholders must also increase their own maritime capabilities and be prepared to mediate in their own interests when tensions flare up among the great powers as the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean increases.

China's Economic Impact on Africa

The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics posted in March 2019 my contribution titled "China's Economic Impact on Africa."

This is an overview of the China-Africa economic relationship that covers trade, direct investment, aid, and contracts. Looking forward, it discusses industry versus agriculture, China's Belt and Road Initiative, China's competitors in Africa, the future of the Renminbi in Africa, and China as a development model.

China's Commercial Footprint in Africa

Standard Bank of South Africa published on 23 August 2018 an overview titled "Forum for China-Africa Cooperation: Africa Still Solidly in the Crosshairs of China Growth" by Jeremy Stevens.

The paper looks at China's economic engagement with Africa, especially investment and trade. It suggests that China's foreign direct investment in Africa remains small, averaging just over $2 billion annually during the last 15 years. It puts China's total investment stock in Africa at between $50 billion and $60 billion. The study says there may be significantly more--upwards of 30,000--Chinese companies, most of them small and private, in Africa than has been previously reported. It comments on Africa's growing trade deficit with China and predicts that about 30 percent of China's trade with Africa will be settled in renminbi by 2025.

Chinese Foreign Direct Investment Flowing to Africa

The South China Morning Post published on 18 October 2016 an article titled "Soaring Costs Force More Chinese Firms to Look Overseas, As Latest Figures Show ODI Surges 53.7pc in Year to Date" by Xie Yu.

The article reports that Chinese firms are increasingly eyeing opportunities outside China with Africa becoming a favored destination rather than locations in Asia. The article reaches this conclusion by drawing primarily on anecdotal accounts of new Chinese investment in Ethiopia and Tanzania.

Use of China's Renminbi in Africa

The Centre for Chinese Studies (CCS) at Stellenbosch University published on 19 September 2016 an analysis titled "The Internationalisation of Renminbi in an African Context" by Yi Ren Thng, CCS visiting scholar.

The author noted that African firms stand to gain from greater Renminbi usage for trade settlement of receipts and payments with their Chinese counterparts. At the same time, he noted that complications concerning additional usage of the Renminbi may restrict it to trade settlement.

Rise of China's Renminbi in Africa

The Centre for Chinese Studies (CCS) at Stellenbosch University published on 19 September 2016 a commentary titled "The Internationalisation of Renminbi in an African Context" by Yi Ren Thng, visiting scholar at CCS.

The RMB has become increasingly important in African trade settlements with China, but the author suggests there are challenges for the RMB to move beyond trade settlement.

Increased Usage of China's Renminbi in South Africa

Swift.com published on 24 August 2016 an article titled "RMB Continues to Penetrate the South African Market." Renminbi (RMB) usage in payments in South Africa increased by 65 percent over the last 12 months, strengthening the country's trade relations with China and Hong Kong.