Authored by James Gorrie via The Epoch Times,
For more than a decade, China’s footprint across Africa has expanded at a phenomenal pace.
Railways in Kenya, ports in Tanzania, energy projects across sub-Saharan Africa, and militarized infrastructure in various places have meant billions in state-backed loans. For decades, Beijing has positioned itself as Africa’s largest trading partner and its most aggressive infrastructure financier.
In some sectors, such as energy lending by Chinese development finance institutions, investment levels have fallen by as much as 85 percent from their peak years. That’s not a rounding error, that’s a strategic retreat.
What’s really going on? Is China walking away from Africa? Or is Africa revealing something deeper about China’s own economic stress?
It’s all of the above and more.
According to research cited by the Clean Air Task Force, Chinese development finance for African energy projects has declined roughly85 percentsince 2015. That’s a dramatic contraction in capital deployment.
Separate reporting based on data from Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center shows that Chinese lending to Africa has fallen sharply in recent years. In some reports, China’s investment fell nearly46 percent year over yearin 2024.
This isn’t just a pause. It’s a reset.
For years, Beijing fueled infrastructure growth across the continent through state-backed loans tied to its Belt and Road Initiativeexpansion. Now, the tap isn’t fully off, but it’s not flowing as freely as it used to.
Source: ZeroHedge News
