American and Chinese FDI in Africa

 The China in Africa blog posted on 17 November 2025 an item titled "Has the US Overtaken China in African Investment?" by Deborah Brautigam.

American foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa modestly exceeded Chinese FDI in Africa in 2022 and 2023 but in 2024 China's flow totaled $3.37 billion while the US flow was a negative $2.02 billion, meaning that American companies divested in 2024. 

Comment:  Annual flows can be terribly misleading.  Total FDI stock at any given time is a better indicator of a country's investment.  According to a recent Atlantic Council study, China's total investment stock in Africa peaked at about $45 billion in 2018. It subsequently declined slightly due to more divestment than new investment and totaled only about $42 billion in 2023.  Adding China's 2024 FDI to the total stock would bring it back to its 2018 peak, which suggests that Chinese FDI stock in Africa has been essentially flat since 2018.     

China's Investment in Africa

In a blog posting dated 22 July 2019 and titled "China's Investment in Africa: What the Data Really Says, and the Implications for Europe," Alicia Garcia-Herrero and Jianwei Xu explain that China's stock of foreign direct investment into Africa remains limited compared to that of European countries, especially the UK and France. China, however, clearly stands out as a debt-generating lender, particularly in project finance.

World Investment Report 2016

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has available online its "World Investment Report 2016." It contains a massive amount of data on FDI around the world, including Africa.