Nigeria looks to Europe for funding as Chinese lenders move away from costly projects in Africa
- Transport minister says the West African nation is ‘stuck with lots of our projects because we cannot get money’ from China
- It reflects a wider trend amid ‘real concerns about debt sustainability and the availability of Chinese financial resources’, according to analyst
Nigeria is looking to Europe for funding to complete infrastructure projects such as railways, with a senior official in the West African nation saying Chinese loans are drying up.
Last weekend, Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi told Nigerian newspaper The Guardian that the country was “stuck with lots of our projects because we cannot get money”. “The Chinese are no longer funding,” he said. “So, we are now pursuing money in Europe.”
In Abuja on Wednesday, Amaechi said Nigeria had approached Standard Chartered Bank for funding of two existing rail projects, Reuters reported.
He had said in July that Standard Chartered had agreed to provide US$3.02 billion for the Port Harcourt-to-Maiduguri railway project and that Credit Suisse was expected to fund the Kano-to-Maradi line, according to the report.
“We have gone to Standard Chartered Bank. They have not done financial closure but they have approved some level of funding for Kano-Maradi,” Amaechi was quoted as saying on Wednesday.