African development gets Chinese push

Trade between China and Africa rose 5.5 percent year-on-year to 1.19 trillion yuan in the first seven months of this year, while China's trade with Africa in intermediate goods posted 6.4 percent year-on-year growth, official data showed.

Lyu Daliang, director-general of the GAC's Department of Statistics and Analysis, said that trade in intermediate goods between China and Africa accounts for 68 percent of the total value of bilateral trade, helping Africa in its process of industrialization and economic diversification efforts.

"China-Africa trade has seen rapid growth, driven by win-win cooperation," said Lyu.

Echoing that sentiment, Zhang Chun, a researcher at the Center for African Studies, which is part of Yunnan University in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan province, said that the growing foreign trade data not only highlight the remarkable achievements of China's high-quality economic development, but also play a crucial role in advancing Africa's social development and enhancing the living standards of local communities.

"China and Africa's economies are highly complementary," Zhang said, emphasizing that China offers mature, practical technologies, advanced equipment and ample capital, while African countries hold significant advantages in market size, manpower and natural resources.

By the end of 2023, China's nonfinancial direct investment stock in Africa exceeded $40 billion, making it one of the largest sources of foreign investment in the continent. Over the past three years, Chinese companies have created more than 1.1 million jobs locally in Africa, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The economic and trade cooperation zones in Africa they have invested in cover sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and logistics, attracting over 1,000 companies. These zones have made significant contributions to local tax revenue, export growth and foreign exchange earnings.

In addition to boosting businesses related to manufacturing and trade in services in Africa, China is keen to encourage and support financial institutions from both its market and Africa to strengthen exchanges and innovate financial cooperation models in the years ahead.

Shen Xiang, director-general of the Department of Western Asian and African Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce, said the Chinese government will focus on diversifying financial products and supporting cooperation between China and Africa in areas like green development, the digital economy and the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in the next step.

Dismissing certain countries' "debt trap" narrative in Africa, Shen said that based on a study recently released by the International Monetary Fund, commercial bonds and multilateral debt accounted for 66 percent of Africa's total external debt in 2023, while China-Africa bilateral debt made up only 11 percent.

This means that China has never been the main creditor of Africa's debt. Some parties have used the issue of African debt to make baseless accusations. Their objective is merely to tarnish and disrupt China-Africa cooperation, he said.