TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday announced a whopping USD 60 billion in new development financing for the African nations as he sought to refute criticism that the massive funding under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) drawing the countries into a debt trap. The funds announced on top of USD 60 billion that Beijing offered to the African nations in 2015 – – will be provided in the form of government assistance as well as investment and financing by financial institutions and companies.
The finances to be made under the BRI include USD 15 billion grants, interest-free loans and concessional loans, USD 20 billion credit lines, setting up of a USD 10-billion special fund for development financing and a USD 5 billion-special fund for financing imports from Africa, Xi said at the start of a two-day Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) attended by the 53 heads of the African states and organisations.
The African nation heads and their officials gathered at the Great Hall of People to attend the meeting and gave a standing ovation to Xi as he made the financial commitments. China is investing billions of dollars in aid and projects, making Africa the most focussed destination under the BRI. This is the third-time China is hosting the Africa summit. The inaugural 2006 summit was held in Beijing and followed by another one in 2015 at Johannesburg.
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