Financing Africa’s Development: Chinese Equity Investment Fund Targets Joint Ventures 

A million Africans have benefitted from CAD Fund’s services in the past 10 years.

The China-Africa Development Fund, CAD Fund, whose role is to finance major Chinese investments in Africa, has so far benefitted a million people on the continent since its inauguration in 2007. The institution, which is China’s first and largest equity investment fund with focus on Africa, has in 10 years sponsored 90 projects worth 20 billion US dollars (or 11,160 billion FCFA) in 36 African nations.

The disclosure was made in the Chinese capital, Beijing on August 22, 2017 during a visit to CAD Fund headquarters by 27 African journalists. According to CAD Fund’s Vice President, Wang Yong, China’s direct investments in Africa in the past 10 years also generated 2 billion US dollars (or 1,116 billion FCFA) in local exports and 1 billion US dollars (about 558 billion FCFA) in tax revenue.  

Wang Yong said his institution most interested in supporting joint large-scale projects between African and Chinese entrepreneurs. He added that the objective was to boost project host countries’ capacity for self-development. As Africa’s largest trade partner, China’s investments on the continent are expected to hit 100 billion US dollars (about 55,771 billion FCFA) by 2020, officials predicted.   

With capital of 10 billion US dollars (5,581 billion FCFA), CAD Fund, which is under the China Development Bank, focuses on four main areas – ...