China may be accused of placing business above human rights in Africa but the World Bank says in a new report that the Asian giant is spearheading a massive infrastructure revolution in the continent critical to reducing poverty.
China, India, and a few Middle Eastern Gulf nations are financing an unprecedented number of infrastructure projects across Sub-Saharan Africa — both in scale and the focus on large infrastructure projects, the report said.
Investment commitments in Africa by these emerging financiers jumped from less than US$1 billion per year before 2004 to US$8 billion in 2006 and US$5 billion last year, signaling a growing trend in cooperation among developing economies, the report said.
“Today, China’s growing infrastructure commitments in Africa are helping to address the huge infrastructure deficit of the continent,” said Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili, the World Bank’s vice president for the Africa region as he launched the report on Thursday.
Entitled Building Bridges: China’s Growing Role as Infrastructure Financier for Sub-Saharan Africa, the report said new infrastructure partnerships in the region were being driven by strong economic growth, improved business-friendly climate and rising demand for commodities from China and India.
“The growing South-South cooperation is driven by strong economic complementarities between China and Africa,” said Vivien Foster, a World Bank economist and coauthor of the report.
The report said that in a changing world, with new actors and financing modalities coming into play, there is a “learning process for investors and recipients.”
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