Two hundred and forty Chinese firms have invested in more than 400 Nigerian projects between 1998 and 2012, making it the African country with the most Chinese investment.

A report by the Brookings Institution – titled Why is China Investing in Africa? – shows that even though the Asian country accounts for around just 3% of direct investment on the continent, at the end of 2013, it had more outward direct investment in Africa (US$26 billion) than in the US (US$23 billion).

According to an AFKinsider report, there are several factors China considers before making an investment. Natural resource wealth is one of them.

The study also found that Chinese investment is equally distributed between good and poor governance environments. So even though the country is especially drawn to politically stable countries, the share of investment China puts into poor governance environments is also high.

South Africa is the African country with the second most Chinese investment projects at 280, while Cameroon has the least, at 60.

1 September 2015
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