China in Africa: December 2024

China-Nigeria Currency Swap: On December 27, China and Nigeria renewed a 15 billion yuan ($2 billion) currency swap agreement to enhance trade and investment between the two countries. According to Bloomberg, the agreement is valid for three years and can be renewed upon mutual consent. The purpose of the agreement, originally signed in April 2018, is to provide a more seamless exchange of the Chinese yuan and the Nigerian naira for businesses operating in each country, removing the U.S. dollar as a necessary intermediary currency. The naira has lost 70 percent of its value since the Central Bank of Nigeria allowed the naira to trade more freely against the dollar last year. By reducing local demand for dollars, that agreement could stabilize the naira. 

Some experts believe the currency swap will support bilateral investments, enhance market efficiency and financial stability, promote broader economic cooperation between the two countries, and assist both in their foreign exchange reserves management. Others are doubtful. 

A group under the auspices of the Sea Empowerment Research Center believes that the agreement has the potential to increase Nigeria’s dependence on the Chinese yuan and, in turn, limit its ability to participate fully in the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Composed of fifty-five countries from the African Union and eight Regional Economic Communities, the AfCFTA is the world’s largest free-trade area. A heightened focus on China-Nigeria trade could hinder Nigeria’s bilateral trade with other African countries, directly undermining the AfCFTA’s interest in promoting intra-African trade and reducing dependence on foreign currencies. On a different note, the agreement could draw the attention of President Donald Trump, who has warned of steep trade tariffs against members of the intergovernmental organization BRICS, which refers to certain emerging market countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and associates interested in replacing the dominant U.S. dollar. 

Emphasis on Egypt: Egypt was a hot spot for Chinese engagement throughout December. Hossam Heiba, the CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones, met delegates from China-based Lutai Group to discuss the opening of the company’s first factory in Egypt, a five-hundred-thousand-meter establishment worth a whopping $385 million. Egypt’s Mansour Automotive Group and Chinese SAIC Motor signed a $135 million agreement to build a car manufacturing plant in New October City’s industrial zone. In partnership with Dubai-based AMEA Power, Chinese company Trina Solar announced plans to provide its advanced Elementa 2 platform (five megawatt hours) for the three-hundred-megawatt-hour Abydos Battery Energy Storage Project in Aswan, Egypt. Using its advanced technology, Trina Solar hopes to accelerate North Africa’s transition to renewable energy. China Mobile International and Telecom Egypt announced a strategic commercial agreement, which capitalizes on mutual subsea cable infrastructure investments to better meet the growing data needs of consumers. Those developments were echoed at the China-Egypt Economic and Trade Symposium, where more than eighty representatives from Chinese and Egyptian businesses joined government officials to discuss new opportunities for economic cooperation between the two countries. 

Infrastructure and Sustainability Investment: Tanzania saw two Chinese infrastructure investments that deviated from the standard road construction. In mid-December, China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group began pile-testing operations for a key oil storage tank facility at Dar es Salaam Port. According to the executive deputy manager of the project, the facility will reduce the time it takes to unload oil tankers at Dar es Salaam Port to three days from twelve, lowering retail oil prices and meeting the growing demand for petroleum in Tanzania and nearby. China CRRC Qiqihar Rolling Stock Co., Ltd., delivered 264 cargo wagons as part of its commitment to the Tanzania Railway Corporation’s construction of the standard gauge railway electric trains. In Cameroon, China First Highway Engineering Co., Ltd., won a Central African CFA franc (XAF) twenty billion contract from the Ministry of Public Works to construct a portion of a road between Guidjiba and Taparé in the northern part of the country. 

On the solar energy front, Togo signed a solar energy agreement with Chinese company Haier Group Co. Based on a memorandum of understanding signed at the September Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit in Beijing, Haier will provide technological support for Togo’s ongoing photovoltaic and energy storage initiatives. 

The Mining Conversation: In late December, China’s Ganfeng Lithium Co., Ltd., commenced production of the first phase of its Goulamina spodumene project in Mali. Goulamina is one Africa’s largest lithium mines—and could be explored for the next two decades. Over that period, it is estimated that Ganfeng Lithium could produce 15.6 million tons of spodumene concentrate. Around the same time, China Railway Construction and China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group jointly completed the production of a road header with an excavation diameter of 5.63 meters. The road header will be used to combat several challenges associated with Zambia’s Chambishi Southeast ore, Africa’s first digital mine project, including hard rock, fault fracture zones, small radius turns, off-center excavations, and elevated ground temperatures. If successful, 3.3 million tons of ore will be mined and processed annually, yielding sixty thousand tons of copper concentrate. 

African countries have not been blind to China’s involvement in their mining sectors, however. Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy launched an investigation into Xinfeng Investments (Pty), Ltd., which holds an exclusive prospecting license through a joint venture with Orange River Exploration and Mining CC, for allegedly conducting illegal lithium mining activities in the Erongo region. As it stands, full-scale mining activities, including the extraction of lithium, are not covered by the license. In Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province, seventeen Chinese men were arrested—fourteen of whom were later freed—on suspicion of running an illegal gold mine. Reportedly, the miners owed approximately $10 million in unpaid taxes and fines to the Congolese government. 

The Season of Giving: Early in the month, China granted zero-tariff access to Africa’s least-developed countries (LDCs). Building on its initial removal of tariffs for myriad products from Africa’s LDCs in 2005, China has since removed tariffs from a further 140 products, including cotton, paper, rice, sugar, wheat, and wood. 

On December 9, Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark provided medical service to some residents of Djibouti. Following previous visits by the ship in 2010 and 2017, the seven-day visit marked its third stop in Djibouti. In Seychelles, Beijing and Victoria signed accords on December 13 to launch social housing projects on the main island of Mahe beginning in March 2026. Funded through a Chinese grant, the project will construct 136 social housing units in the Anse Royale and Anse Boileau districts. Later, the China-sponsored National Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment Laboratory Project was initiated in Liberia. On completion, the project will provide high-quality medical service to all Liberians, including Liberian military personnel, moving the needle on Liberian President Joseph Nyuma Boakai Sr.’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development and the implementation of the Beijing Declaration on Jointly Building an All-Weather China-Africa Community With a Shared Future for the New Era. 

Chinese-Origin Military Equipment to Africa: Chinese military equipment continues to make its way to African countries. On December 16, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, through its subsidiary Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation, delivered two Y-9E medium transport aircraft to Namibia—the first overseas sale of the Y-9E. Presiding over the handover ceremony in Grootfontein in the Otjozondjupa region, Namibian President Ngolo Mbemba remarked on the aircraft’s capacity to enhance the operational readiness of the Namibian Defence Force, “both during peacetime and wartime emergencies.” A few days later, Chinese state-owned enterprise North Industries Group Co., Ltd., delivered its last batch of six-by-six armored combat vehicles and four-by-four mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles to Burkina Faso. With the future in its line of sight, Morocco’s Royal Air Force is considering replacing its fleet of Franco-German Assault Alpha jets with the Chinese L-15 Falcon light attack and trainer aircraft. Morocco’s interest in the L-15 signals a departure from its traditional reliance on Western suppliers and its endeavor to modernize its defense capabilities, especially given that in recent years it has acquired several other Chinese defense systems.