China’s infrastructure investments spur growth in Africa

By THE INDEPENDENT UG

Chinese instructor Jiang Liping (R) and apprentice Horace Owiti walk past a train carriage on the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway in Nairobi, Kenya, May 23, 2023. The Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya has become a flagship project of China-Africa cooperation, a “business card” of Chinese enterprises and a demonstration project of the Belt and Road Initiative. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)

NAIROBI | Xinhua | China’s massive infrastructure investments in Africa are driving the continent’s economic growth, an African Development Bank (AfDB) official said Thursday.

AfDB Secretary-General Vincent Nmehielle told journalists in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, that the Asian nation has financed infrastructure projects through bilateral agreements with African countries as well as via multilateral development financial institutions.

“Overall, I expect the infrastructure projects to be able to open up economies in a way that enables the country to perform, if it is a road or bridge it makes movement of goods easier and this is a driver for growth,” he said during a media briefing on progress achieved in preparations for the 59th Annual Meeting of the AfDB that is scheduled to take place in Nairobi on May 27-31.

The meeting is expected to host about 4,000 delegates representing finance ministers from African countries, senior AfDB officials, development partners as well as the private sector.

Nmehielle added that finance from China has complemented funding from other foreign donors as well as domestic resources in reducing Africa’s infrastructure development gap that is estimated at 170 billion U.S. dollars annually.

China and AfDB jointly developed the Africa Growing Together Fund to finance development projects in Africa. ■

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