China ODI to Africa hits record level

Chinese overseas direct investment into Africa surged to record levels in the first eight months of this year.

By the end of August, $2.67 billion worth of investment had been made in the continent, a dramatic 20.8 percent rise on the same period last year.

Shen Danyang, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, notes the figure represents a significant share of the world's total foreign investment in Africa of $12.62 billion.

"China's rate of increased investment into Africa is more than from any other nation," adds Shen, who is also director general of policy research at the ministry.

He attributes the increase to China's steady GDP growth, and the work of the China Africa Development Fund, developed by the China Development Bank as an investment vehicle into the continent.

Addressing a news conference organized by the All China Journalists Association, on the current and future trends of China's international investment, he adds that the main African recipients of China's ODI were Algeria, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

International direct investment into China is expected to be overtaken by its own ODI next year, he says.

According to figures released during this month's The Party and the World Dialogue 2014 - an event held in Beijing to showcase modern international perspectives on the Communist Party of China and China's reforms - the value of China's ODI is expected to top $ 1.2 trillion by 2020.

A document released at the conference by the China Center for Contemparory World Studies, entitled Mixed-ownership economy, said that China plans to create more room for private capital and foreign capital in the country.

It attributed its rise in overseas investment to the transfer of manufacturing and other industries abroad, which the document claimed would bring potentially huge opportunities for China's most labor-intensive sectors, and for those countries in which it is investing.

The country's ODI is expected to have created seven million new jobs in other countries by 2020, the document said, with the Chinese economy expected to increase to 15 percent of the world economy, which would represent just over a quarter of global economic growth.

It added: "Ongoing comprehensive, deepening reforms by China will continue to resolve the structural challenges facing its economy, and will result in slower growth but more sustainable development."

The Chinese economy is estimated to grow by 7.5 percent in 2014.

For China Daily