Xi unveils massive Africa fund package

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping announced US$60 billion of assistance and loans for Africa at a summit in Johannesburg on Friday, signalling China’s commitment to the continent despite a recent fall in investment.

China’s economic growth has taken a dip this year, triggering a global commodities slump and causing Beijing to slash investment in Africa by more than 40% in the first six months of 2015.

Mr Xi said China has decided “to provide a total of $60 billion of funding support that includes $5 billion of grants in zero interest loans [and] $35 billion in a preferential facility and export credit loans and concessional loans.”

In a slew of pledges at his speech opening the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), he also announced drought aid for the continent.

“China is greatly concerned about the poor harvest caused by El Nino in many African countries and will provide 1 billion renminbi yuan worth of emergency food aid to the affected countries,” he said.

The two-day FOCAC meeting is the second time China has brought together African leaders since the forum was launched in Beijing in 2000.

Since then, China’s trade with Africa has overtaken that of its traditional partners, Europe and the United States.

A fall in mineral prices has hit African countries who relied on Chinese demand, with large lay-offs by mining companies in resource-rich countries such as Zambia and South Africa.

“We are keen to explore cooperation with China to ensure the long-term viability of African mining,” South Africa President Jacob Zuma told the summit.

“This is important in light of the declining demand for commodities.”

Mr Xi — accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan — landed in South Africa after a brief visit to Zimbabwe, where Chinese projects have helped prop up an economy plunged into crisis under President Robert Mugabe’s rule.

Mr Mugabe, who addressed the summit’s opening session as chair of the African Union, lavished praise on the Chinese leader.

“We say he is a god-sent person,” Mr Mugabe said. “President Xi Jinping has made a much anticipated announcement of new measures... to inject vibrancy into that already dynamic relationship between China and Africa.

“Our detractors have sought to portray our relationship to purely commercials ties, driven by China’s desire to extract our mineral resources, [but] our relations go much deeper.”

Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity was not expected to attend the Johannesburg event.