China Literally Poured Money into Africa in 2023

According to a study jointly conducted by the Griffith Asia Institute (GAI) and the Green Finance and Development Centre (GFDC), Chinese investment into Africa underwent a dramatic increase in 2023, displaying a strong 47% year-on-year growth.

In 2023, Chinese #ODI into Africa amounted to USD 21.7 billion, surpassing other regions in the world. In total, China invested USD 92.4 billion across 212 projects around the world in 2023, representing a 24% growth.

However, what China considers as investment is not necessarily viewed as such in the West. For instance, China tends to lump grants, concessional or commercial loans and #FDI as ‘investment.’ Therefore, when undertaking a comparing study, it is sometimes necessary to know what one means by investment and to compare apple with apple.

Namibia and Tanzania stood out with an uptick of 457% and 415% respectively. Sector wise, energy received 31% while mining attracted 21% of the total #FDI. It is also worth noting that there is a marked preference for renewable energy projects, which make up more than a third of all energy projects.

The trend towards green is global and approximately USD 8 billion of investment were targeted at the #EV ecosystem around the world in countries such as South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil and Hungary. In particular, Zhejiang Huayou partnered with LG to build a lithium battery plant in South Korea. Zhejiang Hezhong set up an #EV production plant in Thailand. while BYD established an automobile plant in Brazil.

In addition to #CarbonFootprint, another emerging trend is the heightening attention paid to #ESG aspects of the project. Another distinguishing feature appears to be that most deals are officially linked to the #BRI, China’s flagship global geoeconomic program.