TY  - JOUR
AU  - Besada,Hany
AU  - Wang,Yang
AU  - Whalley,John
TI  - China's Growing Economic Activity in Africa
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14024
PY  - 2008
Y2  - May 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14024
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14024.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Hany Besada
Centre for International Governance
  Innovation (CIGI)
Centre pour l'innovation dans la
  gouvernance internationale
57 Erb Street West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 6C2
E-Mail: hbesada@cigionline.org

Yang Wang
Department of Economics
University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario, N6A5C2
E-Mail: ywang224@uwo.ca

John Whalley
Department of Economics
Social Science Centre
University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario  N6A 5C2  CANADA
Tel: 519/661-3509
Fax: 519/661-3666
E-Mail: jwhalley@uwo.ca
M3  - presented at "Innovation Policy and the Economy 2008", April 15, 2008
AB  - Trade between the whole of Africa and China (imports and exports summed) grew from $10.6 billion to $73.3 billion between 2000 and 2007, and between Sub-Saharan Africa and China from $7 billion to $59 billion over the same period. China is now Africa's third largest trading partner behind the EU and the US. The Chinese FDI stock in Africa has grown from $49 million in 1990 to $2.6 billion in 2006. On the basis of these data, one frequently hears the claim that China is now a dominant influence in Africa. Here we both evaluate such claims, and assess what factors underlay this phenomenon. We suggest that while the annual growth rates of trade and investment flows are high (around 30% per year sine the late 1990's), the levels are still considerably smaller than such claims might suggest. China in 2006 accounted for only $520 million of inward FDI compared to a total from all sources of $36 billion, around 1.4% of total FDI inflows to Africa; and only 8.6% of African exports and 9.6% of African imports. African interdependence with China thus remains proportionally smaller than that for most other geographical areas, but is growing rapidly. Factors behind this growth are discussed in the text.
ER  -