According to the Chinese Loans to Africa (CLA) Database, which is maintained by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center, Chinese loan pledges to African countries will total little under $2.1 billion in 2024, divided among just six projects.
This is a significant drop from the highs of the early 2010s, when Chinese credit routinely exceeded $10 billion per year.
From 2000 to 2024, 42 Chinese lenders signed 1,319 loans worth $180.87 billion with 49 African states and seven regional entities.
These loans funded approximately 900 projects totaling $316 billion in sectors like as transportation, power, water and sanitation, and digital infrastructure, thereby contributing significantly to economic growth, public assets, and poverty alleviation.
Lending has remained concentrated in transportation, energy transmission, water and sanitation, and financial services, all of which are failing to attract private investment.
Meanwhile, fossil fuel, electricity-generating, and ICT projects received nearly no new loans in 2024.
Renewable energy projects are increasingly being funded by foreign direct investment (FDI) or trade instead of traditional sovereign debt.
In Kenya, all infrastructure loans in 2024 were denominated in RMB, marking a departure from the USD-dominated borrowing of the 2010s.
These moves have broader economic implications. Developing countries are now repaying more to China than they borrow, resulting in net outflows.
According to a Boston University study, net debt transfers from China to developing nations decreased in 2022 and 2023, with governments repaying $3.9 billion more annually than they received in new loans.
This puts further strain on economies already dealing with debt and underinvestment in climate-related infrastructure.
With that said, here are the African countries that received the most Chinese loans between 2000 and 2024, according to statistics from the Boston University Global Development Policy Center.
