Category: Development

Repaying Kenya’s $3.7 billion loan to China for the Standard Gauge Railway is key to Kenya’s broader financial future. However, two decisions by the country’s new President, William Ruto, will make that much harder, raising the danger that the burden could fall on taxpayers.

October marks the 9th anniversary of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and after all these years, nearly a decade later, many people around the world are still trying to figure out what exactly the BRI is. What is certain, though, ...

One of William Ruto's first actions as Kenyan president was to reverse a decision made by his predecessor to force logistics operators to use the Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway's inland port in Naivasha for logistics and clearance services.  Ruto said the ...

New revelations about how En (Aisha) Huang, Ghana’s so-called Queen of Galamsey (illegal small-scale gold mining), managed to make her way back to the country despite being deported are adding political heat to an already red-hot controversy. A member of parliament, Samuel ...

This week I participated in a seminar hosted by the South African Institute for International Affairs comparing the on-the-ground experiences of Chinese-led infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia and Africa (watch the event here). Researchers from opposite ends of the globe revealed ...

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he's willing to send charter planes to China to bring back engineers and other high-skilled infrastructure experts to Zimbabwe so they can finish critical infrastructure projects. The President made the offer during a tour of the ...

China and Japan are collectively financing half a billion dollars worth of Kenyan infrastructure projects in the current fiscal year, more than any other country, according to new data from the National Treasury in Nairobi.

China will provide additional humanitarian aid, including 25,000 tents, to flood-devastated Pakistan, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Monday. The Red Cross Society of China will also provide $300,000 in emergency cash assistance to the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, Zhao said.  The ...

A key announcement at TICAD 8 was that Japan will provide $5 billion to the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the fifth phase of the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa initiative (EPSA) from 2023 to 2025. EPSA is a Japan-led multi-donor platform to ...

The Tanzanian government opened bidding to build the next stage of its new Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) network that will extend to the border with Burundi. Construction companies have been invited to submit proposals to build a 367-kilometer portion of the line ...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi unveiled a minor debt relief package for 17 African countries, writing off 23 interest-free loans that came due at the end of the last year. Wang made the announcement on Thursday at a meeting with a group of ...

Chinese contractors are now three-quarters of the way done with the new headquarters of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa with construction running ahead of schedule. The new 90,000 square meter facility is ...