China Continues Spending Spree With $11bn For Mali Projects

 Onyedimmakachukwu Economic Development & Policies, International, Investing, Investors

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VENTURES AFRICA – Mali’s presidency has announced that it has signed agreements worth $11 billion with China most of which will go to financing two cross-country railway projects intended to link the land-locked country to the coast.
China’s investment in Africa continues to grow exponentially; in August Chinese Nanchang Investment Company poured in $8 million to build a luxury hotel in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city. Prior to that, Kenya, last year, signed a $5 billion economic deal with China. The country’s investment in Africa totaled $248 billion in 2013, according to Standard Chartered Research.
Now Mali; China’s $11 billion worth agreements, numbering 34, comes some months after the IMF and World Bank froze nearly $70 million in
financing following concerns about the country’s purchase of a $40 million presidential jet and a loan for military supplies. The deals, analysts say, undermined donor confidence in the commitment of Mali’s new government to rebuild the country after the 2012 coup and violent conflicts with Tuareg separatists in the north and Islamic militants.
However, the funds from China come at a time when the Malian government is in fresh talks with the International Monetary Fund to review its programme for Mali and resume the aid payments.
The agreements, signed during a four-day visit by Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to China from Sept. 9 to 13 for the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, will see the Asian Giant provide $8 billion in funding for a 900-km railway linking the capital of Bamako to Guinea’s port capital Conakry. China will also provide $1.48 billion for the renovation of the Bamako-Dakar railway, linking Mali to the Senegalese capital to the west.
Chinese funding also covers projects in the housing, energy and education sectors as well as the construction of a fourth bridge across the Niger River in Bamako and the construction of roads, especially in Northern Mali which was seized by a mix of separatist and al Qaeda-linked rebels in 2012.
A $51 million in gifts and interest-free loans is also part of the $11 billion package. “China is willing to increase trade and economic cooperation with African countries to promote joint development,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told at a daily news briefing in Beijing during the summit.
Ravaged in 2012 by a coup, followed by a rebellion and an insurgency in the north, Mali has struggled with economic and infrastructural reconstruction since a return to relative stability thanks to France-led foreign military intervention. Last year the West African country secured more than $4 billion in donor pledges but progress in the country has been described as slow.