10 African countries with highest Chinese loans in the last 24 years

This represents a dramatic decline from the highs of the early 2010s, when Chinese credit routinely exceeded $10 billion every year.

From 2000 to 2024, 42 Chinese lenders inked 1,319 loans totaling $180.87 billion with 49 African states and seven regional entities.

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These loans sponsored nearly 900 projects worth $316 billion in sectors such as transportation, power, water and sanitation, and digital infrastructure, making a significant contribution to economic growth, public assets, and poverty reduction.

Lending has remained focused on transportation, energy transmission, water and sanitation, and financial services, all of which are struggling to attract private investment.

Meanwhile, fossil fuel projects, electricity-generating, and ICT projects received almost no fresh loans in 2024.

Renewable energy projects are increasingly being funded through foreign direct investment (FDI) or trade methods, rather than traditional sovereign debt.

In Kenya, all infrastructure loans in 2024 were denominated in RMB, a shift from the USD-dominated borrowing that characterized the 2010s.

These movements have a broader economic impact. Developing countries are increasingly repaying more to China than they borrow, resulting in net outflows.

According to a Boston University analysis, net debt transfers from China to developing countries fell in 2022 and 2023, with governments repaying $3.9 billion more each year than they received in new loans.

This puts further strain on economies that are already struggling with debt and underinvestment in climate-related infrastructure.

With that said, here are the African countries with the highest volume of Chinese loans from 2000 to 2024, as per data from the Boston University Global Development Policy Center.