China’s investment in the Belt and Road in Sub-Saharan Africa has fallen to a new low in 2023, demonstrating that increased EU and US spending could reduce the region’s need for depend on Beijing for funding.
China’s investment in the region linked to Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the main pillar of its global infrastructure development strategy, fell 55% to $7.5 billion last year, according to a recent report from the Green Finance and Development Center of Shanghai-based Fudan University.
It comes as the European Union and the United States increasingly seek the kind of influence that Beijing has taken decades to build. “While China has maintained a substantial presence on the continent for more than two decades, the growing interest of Western powers in Africa could impact China’s BRI strategy,” said economist Alicia Garcia-Herrero. Chief for Asia-Pacific at Natixis, a French investment bank. .
While China continues to be one of the main financiers of infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa, with a total investment of $155 billion over the past two decades, the EU and the United States are catching up rapidly falling behind, notably by recently announcing their intention to increase investment in the continent.
In 2022, Brussels announced its new Africa policy and Washington joined other G7 countries in a $600 billion partnership for global infrastructure and investment (PGII). Experts say the development underscores growing concerns in Western capitals about Beijing’s huge growing influence and contacts with several African countries gained through the BRI, which is widely seen as a vehicle for Chinese geopolitical expansion.
“The heightened interest in Africa (by the US and EU) reflects a shift in the global economic order,” Garcia-Herrero said. “With China’s economy weakening, (the US and EU) are looking to diversify their assets and expand their influence in emerging countries. »
