CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE IN AFRICA: BETWEEN INFRASTRUCTURE GAINS AND DEBT RISKS

Abstract

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched in 2013, has become one of the
most consequential frameworks shaping Africa’s infrastructure and development trajectory. With
more than fifty African states participating, the BRI has facilitated large-scale projects in transport,
energy, ports, and digital infrastructure, offering opportunities to close Africa’s long-standing
connectivity gap. Proponents argue that these investments represent a transformative
“development promise,” stimulating trade, industrialization, and regional integration while
providing alternatives to Western aid and financing models. However, growing concerns have
emerged regarding debt sustainability, transparency, and strategic dependency. Many BRI projects
are financed through Chinese loans, raising the risk of debt distress, as seen in Kenya’s Standard
Gauge Railway and Ethiopia’s rail projects. Critics warn that ambiguous contracts, high repayment
burdens, and project underperformance could reinforce structural dependency, limiting African
policy autonomy and creating potential avenues for Chinese strategic leverage. At the same time,
evidence suggests that outcomes are not uniform: several states have renegotiated loan terms,
diversified partnerships, and leveraged BRI projects for local development. This study examines
the BRI in Africa as a dual-edged phenomenon, highlighting both its contributions to infrastructure
development and its potential to create debt vulnerabilities. This study adopts a qualitative research
design that relies on secondary data analysis. The focus is to examine how China’s Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI) in Africa simultaneously offers development opportunities and creates debt-related
vulnerabilities. It argues that the developmental benefits of the BRI will depend largely on the
fiscal prudence, transparency, and negotiating capacity of African governments in future
cooperation.