The Changing Shape of Chinese Investment in Africa

 The Center for Global Development published in June 2025 a paper titled "China's Investment Pivot and Africa's Industrial Prospects: Any Hope for African 'Flying Geese'?" by Charles Kenny.  

The paper examines the changing shape of Chinese investment in Africa as it evolves from largescale infrastructure toward small scale manufacturing.  It looks at the opportunity for the region in the context of a deepening manufacturing labor shortage in China; discusses barriers to that opportunity in both China and Africa; and the potential response of Western countries.  

Chinese Loans to Africa Increase Modestly in 2023

 Boston University's Global Development Policy Center posted on 21 August 2024 an analysis titled "Relative Risk and the Rate of Return: Chinese Loans to Africa Database, 2000-2023."

China's total loans to Africa peaked in 2016 at $28 billion, fell to $1 billion annually in 2021 and 2022 before rising to almost $5 billion in 2023.  China's top five loan recipients between 2000 and 2023 were Angola, Ethiopia, Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya.  In 2023, China changed its approach to loans by providing half the total to African multilateral banks and nationally owned banks in Egypt.  It continued to prioritize its longtime borrowers: Angola, Egypt, and Nigeria.