New Friends, Old Friends? The World Bank and Africa When the Chinese Are Coming

Abstract

With China increasing its financing of Africa's development, roles have shifted and new roles are being assigned. The World Bank, having been for many years a prime and essentially unchallenged financier of Africa's development, is under pressure to reconsider its policies vis-a-vis African members. Two Chinese banks have been highly instrumental in this trend—the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China. According to various estimates, over the past few years these two banks combined have lent more money to developing countries than the World Bank. This article explores in a comparative fashion a range of features of the World Bank and Chinese policy banks' practices in Africa. It argues that, even though such a comparison is methodologically problematic, the current dynamic is going to affect the norms of governance represented by the World Bank and its lending policies toward Africa.