End of ‘Angola model’ sees number of Chinese in oil-rich African country plummet
- Researchers estimate expatriate population has declined from over 300,000 to less than 20,000 under new government
- China led funding of post-civil war construction boom but emphasis has now switched to economic diversification
The number of Chinese people living in Angola is estimated to have dropped from a peak of more than 300,000 during a post-civil war construction boom to less than 20,000 as a new president recalibrates the African country’s relationship with China.
When the Angolan civil war ended in 2002 after 27 years of destruction, it was China rather than the West that agreed to fund the country’s reconstruction. That coincided with the Chinese government’s going-out strategy, which encouraged state-owned or private companies to venture overseas.
In what came to be known as the Angola model, Luanda pioneered the concept of oil-backed loans as an easy way to access Chinese funding for the building of roads, hydroelectric dams and railways. It was successful until oil prices fell, forcing the country to pump more oil to service its debts.
In the interim, Angola became a star performer in sub-Saharan Africa, with its economy growing by an average of 11 per cent a year between 2001 and 2010 under president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who stepped down in 2017 after 38 years in power.
In the early 2000s, Angola became Africa’s biggest destination for Chinese capital, receiving US$42.6 billion from Chinese lenders – more than a quarter of China’s total lending to African countries between 2000 and 2020.