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A new update to the Chinese Loans to Africa (CLA) Database, managed by the Boston University Global Development Policy Centre, estimates that Chinese lenders issued 13 new commitments with a value of $4.61 billion to eight African countries and two of the continent’s regional financial institutions in 2023.

This represents the first time the total amount of China’s annual loans to Africa has risen since 2016. But the amount is far below annual average of over $10 billion in the early years (2013-2018) of the Belt and Road Initiative, according to the analysis of the database.

Between 2000-2023, Chinese lenders provided 1,306 loans amounting to $182.28 billion to 49 African governments and seven regional borrowers.

The CLA Database is an interactive data project tracking loan commitments from Chinese development finance institutions (DFIs), commercial banks, government entities and companies to African governments, state-owned enterprises, and regional multilateral institutions.
 
A new policy brief analyses the state of Chinese lending to Africa ahead of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, scheduled to place in Beijing from September 4-6, 2024. Amongst its findings are that Chinese loans were channelled primarily to Africa’s energy sector ($62.72 billion), transportation ($52.65 billion), information and communication technology ($15.67 billion), and the financial sector ($11.98 billion) between 2000 and 2023.

The top five borrowers were Angola, Ethiopia, Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya. The volume of financing channelled to Africa’s financial sector in 2023 is unique when compared to previous years. More than half the total combined loan amount for 2023, $2.59 billion, was provided to African multilateral banks, as well as nationally owned banks in Egypt. From 2000- 2022, a mere 5.29 percent of Chinese loans to Africa were directed to the continent’s financial sector.

After a two-year hiatus in energy lending between 2021-2022, Chinese lenders committed loans worth a combined $501.98 million to three renewable energy projects in Africa in 2023.