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Africa tops China’s Belt and Road investments

Jul 23, 2025, 7:55am EDT
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Maintenance workers check locomotive parts in the repair workshop of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway in Nairobi, Kenya.
Wang Guansen/Xinhua via Getty Images

Africa topped China’s Belt and Road investments in the first half of 2025, reaching $39 billion, according to a new report.

The investments were driven by private sector companies including East Hope Group, Xinfa Group, and Longi Green Energy, found a report by Fudan University’s Green Finance & Development Center and the Griffith Asia Institute.

Oil and gas spending surged to a record high of about $44 billion — higher than in all of 2024 — particularly through construction contracts with processing facilities in Nigeria.

Green energy investment also reached new records, the report found, with $9.7 billion spent on wind, solar, and waste-to-energy projects. China also continued to invest in coal-related activities through the construction of coal mine infrastructure.

A chart showing Chinese vs US FDI flows into Africa, 2003-2023.
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