Africa gets wise to the cost of China’s largesse

Africa’s euphoria with China is waning despite the Eastern giant remaining the biggest lender to the continent. Addressing the Exporters’ Club Western Cape (ECWC) recently, Celeste Fauconnier, co-author of Where to Invest in Africa and a senior economist at Rand Merchant Bank, said African countries were realising that a relationship with China came at a cost. “There is better understanding about Chinese investment. Some of the infrastructure that has been built has not been of the best quality and they are moving to other avenues of investment and not just relying on the Chinese.” Also, the loss of state-owned assets to China has become a real fear. “I do believe though that the China investment into Africa has overall been far more positive than it has been negative.” Fauconnier added though that China remained Africa’s biggest partner for trade and infrastructure development and it would remain that way.

“The alliance was cemented at the 2015 Forum on ChinaAfrica Cooperation (FOCAC), where the Chinese pledged US$60bn in project support to Africa. “And although Africa is not officially part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), it stands to benefit by being one

of the links on the road map.” In this regard, Kenya was best positioned – and bestdeveloped – to be the point of entry for the BRI to connect Asia and Europe via Africa. According to Fauconnier, China’s relationship with Africa was also evolving and it was no longer just a place from

which to extract resources. “The Chinese have realised the advantages of using the African labour force and are increasingly looking at the continent for manufacturing purposes. This, she said, would create much-needed jobs in Africa. – Liesl Ve