By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Debt-ridden Africa will receive nearly $51 billion fresh funding over three years to assist in bridging infrastructure gap, with the creation of at least 1 million jobs, Chinese leader, President Xi Jinping pledged on Thursday.
Xi while addressing over 50 delegates comprising African leaders at the ongoing 3-yearly Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in Beijing said China will offer Africa cooperation in the areas of industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment.
“China and Africa account for one-third of the world population. Without our modernisation, there will be no global modernisation,” Xi said.
China, the world’s biggest bilateral lender, promised to carry out three times as many infrastructure projects across resource-rich Africa.
The Chinese leader committed 360 billion yuan ($50.70 billion) in financial assistance over three years, but specified that 210 billion would be disbursed through credit lines and at least 70 billion in fresh investment by Chinese companies.
Smaller amounts would be provided through military aid and other projects, he stated.
At the 2021 China-Africa summit in Dakar, Senegal, China promised at least $10 billion in investment and the same again in credit lines.
This time however, the Chinese financial aid would be in yuan, what analysts believe is in push to further internationalise the Chinese currency, yuan.
After the opening ceremony, the participants adopted the Beijing Declaration on building “a shared future in the new era” as well as the Beijing Action Plan for 2025-2027, Chinese state media said.
Xi also called for a China-Africa network of land and sea sea links and co-ordinated development, urging Chinese contractors to return to the continent now that COVID-19 curbs that disrupted its projects had been lifted.
He did not however mention debt in his speech, despite Beijing being many African states’ biggest bilateral lender.
