Chinese Banks and ECAs Court African Governments

(Peace FM Online, Accra, 25 June 2019) African Foreign Ministers attending the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Coordinators’ meeting in Beijing yesterday met Chinese financial institutions who introduced them to their array of financial products. This is in line with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s [2015 and then 2018] $60 billion pledge in financial support to African countries. The breakdown showed that $5 billion was free aid and interest-free loans, while $35 billion was for preferential loans and export credit on more favourable terms, and five billion dollars for additional capital for the China Africa development fund. Five billion dollars was also up for initial capital of special loans for the development of African small to medium enterprises each, and $10 billion for China-Africa production capacity cooperation fund.