Africa has emerged as the biggest regional beneficiary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, with $33.5bn in investment announced in the first half of 2026 – a 254% increase on a year earlier. The continent accounted for 67.24% of Chinese financing under the initiative, far ahead of Southeast Asia at 14.41% and Europe at 5.46%, according to a 26 July report by the Green Finance & Development Center.

While the sum is impressive, it is above all the way it is distributed that is attracting attention. Although infrastructure remains a pillar of China’s presence in Africa, capital is also flowing into energy, metals and their processing, manufacturing and technology.

Globally, commitments reached $126.3bn in the first half of the year, including $49.8bn in investment and $76.5bn in construction contracts.

For Senegalese economist Mamadou Ndione, however, this acceleration in Africa does not represent a reversal of China’s strategy. He points out that Beijing has been pursuing a policy of closer ties with the continent for several years, notably through the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). And while the pace of investment may have slowed in recent years, it is now picking up again.

At the same time, trade between the two regions is concentrated mainly on capital goods and intermediate products – productive inputs intended to support the continent’s industrialisation and agricultural modernisation processes – rather than consumer goods, Lin Jian, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press briefing in late July.

The value of this trade reached ¥1.41trn (around $209bn) in the first half of 2026. For Beijing, Africa represents a market of more than 1.2 billion consumers and a concentration of energy and mineral resources.

Ethiopia, a gateway to Africa

This combination partly explains the growing weight of industrial and energy projects. Energy is the clearest indicator of the changing relationship between the two regions.

Ethiopia illustrates this approach. The country recorded $14.8bn in announced financing in the first half of the year, mainly thanks to projects in green energy and equipment manufacturing. The largest is that of Ming Yang Smart Energy, whose investment package has been increased to $14.17bn. Its first phase involves the construction of around 8.4GW of renewable energy capacity, while the second is expected to focus on green ammonia and equipment manufacturing.

The Ethiopian Investment Commission highlights “industrial development, job creation, technology transfer and increased foreign-exchange earnings”. This echoes one of the issues identified by Ndione: for African economies, the value of Chinese investment lies not only in its volume, but also in its ability to accelerate the delivery of infrastructure and bring in technologies. “The Chinese have both the financial resources and the technology,” he said.

Chinese construction contracts in the transport sector alone reached $18.2bn in the first half of the year. The ability to finance and rapidly deliver infrastructure remains one of the key advantages of the Chinese model.

The technology-transfer hurdle

The mining sector provides another indicator of the shift. Chinese commitments to metals and mining reached $21.8bn in the first half of the year. Around 85% of investment is earmarked for the processing of ores. For Beijing, this approach helps secure strategic supply chains, particularly for batteries, electric vehicles and energy technologies. For African countries, it raises the question of how much added value is created locally.

Egypt is one of the models of Beijing’s strategy, with Xin Feng’s steel project, located in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. On 27 January, Industry Minister Kamel El-Wazir discussed the possibility of building an integrated $10bn complex capable of producing up to 10 million tonnes of steel a year. The project could create more than 100,000 jobs. With China’s support, the government wants to use local iron ore and renewable energy to develop products aimed in particular at the automotive industry.

This shift towards processing is of particular interest to African economies with mineral resources. But Ndione stresses what he sees as the main shortcoming: technology transfer. “African engineers have the skills needed to learn quickly alongside Chinese companies and gradually take over,” he says.

Left behind?

Beyond the changing sectors receiving funding, the geographical distribution of funds remains uneven. The Green Finance & Development Center report shows a greater concentration of Chinese capital in North, East and Southern Africa than in West Africa. Ndione said this situation is explained by West Africa facing constraints linked to the business climate, regulations and monetary regimes.

For French-speaking African countries, the potential lies less in seeking the maximum possible volume of investment than in their ability to negotiate its terms. The 26 July report does not make it possible to establish a consistent ranking of investment announced in the first half of the year in Central, West and East Africa (including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon). But the sectors attracting Chinese capital correspond precisely to the upgrading needs of several economies in the region.

This does not mean, however, that the francophone world is being excluded from China’s strategy. Beijing is thinking at a continental level and anticipating the development of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). An industrial presence in one country could therefore eventually provide access to a much more integrated African market.

Morocco is seeking to take advantage of this logic. On 23 June, in Beijing, Investment Minister Karim Zidane presented Chinese companies with the opportunities offered by the kingdom, highlighting high-value-added projects and their integration into regional and global value chains.

China’s trade opening reinforces this perspective. Since 1 May, Beijing has applied a tariff-exemption regime to 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with China. The aim is to facilitate access for African products to the Chinese market. For the continent’s economies, the key challenge is to have the industrial capacity needed to turn this trade opening into exports.