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The Future of Chinese Infrastructure Finance in Africa

by Eric Olander

Nigerian Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi acknowledged this week that he will no longer rely on China to fund two major railways and will have now have to look elsewhere for the money. The minister’s comments shouldn’t come as a big surprise, though, given the plunge in overseas development lending by China’s two major policy banks in recent years.

China is now largely out of the business of loaning large amounts of money to build major infrastructure projects in Africa and is instead focusing on smaller, more targeted initiatives in the health, digital, power and green energy sectors that have clearer path to profitability.

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