Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday announced a $32 billion [K10.2 trillion] aid package to Africa over the next five years in an attempt to right the continent’s economy usually at the mercy of external shocks.
Abe made the commitment when he addressed over 40 African leaders attending the fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development.
“Japan will support African growth through public and private means of 3.2 trillion yen (about $32 billion) including ODA [official development assistance] of around $14 million [K4.4 billion] and other public and private resources of around $16 billion [K51 trillion],” he said.
The conference, now in its 20th year, is jointly organised by Japan, the African Union (AU) Commission, the UN and the World Bank.
The conference has also brought together donor countries, private companies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
President Joyce Banda is attending the conference together with several other African leaders, namely, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Mozambican president Armando Guebuza.
Malawi is one of the countries expected to benefit from the package in the education and agriculture sectors.
Abe said Japan will also underwrite a maximum of $2 billion dollars of trade insurance.
The $32 billion financing comes as Japan seeks to offset China’s influence on the mineral rich continent, dubbed the last frontier for development.
Years of China’s investment in Africa translated into $138.6 billion in 2011 compared to Japan’s $27.8 billion.
On infrastructure development, Abe said Japan will provide $6.5 billion over the next five years.
“This will be allocated to developing the infrastructure that Africa plans and deems necessary. We will rocket-forward in further developing first of all international corridors that link inland areas with the coasts and power grids,” he said.
