India is increasing its lending to African countries amid a race with China for influence on the continent. The countries have received $32 billion in loans from India over the past decade, which is 38% of all the loans it has extended to other countries, Bloomberg reported.
Harsha Bangari, Managing Director at Export-Import Bank of India, told the agency that India has recently opened 195 project-based credit lines in health, infrastructure and agriculture worth about $12 billion in Africa. She noted that this was more than the amount of loans extended to South Asia in the past ten years.
As Bloomberg notes, China’s lending to Africa began to decline in 2016. However, through 2020, China has lent about $134.6 billion to African countries, nearly 11 times more than India’s offer. China has started to develop local mining in Africa, namely, it procures lithium and bauxite there.