China Poised to Overtake World Bank as Biggest Lender in Africa

``There is a risk that some governments in Africa may use Chinese money in the wrong way to avoid pressure from the West for good government,'' said Papa Kwesi Nduom, who heads the Ministry of Public Sector Reform in Ghana, which is seeking a $1.2 billion loan from China for a hydro-electric dam and rural electrification.

China has a more commercial agenda than the World Bank, the U.S. and France, the top Western donors, and terms of some of its loans are less favorable. The U.S. provided a net $3.5 billion in loans and grants to sub-Saharan Africa in 2004, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. France extended $3 billion.

Eximbank, China's overseas lending arm, has provided about $12.5 billion in infrastructure loans to Africa since 1994, a figure that excludes mining and oil projects, according to the World Bank.

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