Angola has signed an agreement with two private Chinese investors to develop a free trade zone near Luanda as the government intensifies efforts to diversify an economy long dependent on oil exports. Half of the $900 million investment will finance a new port terminal outside the capital, while the remainder will fund supporting infrastructure, including roads, electricity, and utilities. The project builds on several recent industrial initiatives, including a Chinese-backed aluminum plant, a cooking oil refinery, a logistics platform, and a national grain reserve. The aluminum plant is already operational, while the other projects remain under development. China has been Angola’s largest creditor since the early 2000s, historically operating under the so-called Angola Model, where oil exports are used to repay Chinese loans. That arrangement weakened as oil prices fell and Beijing diversified its crude suppliers, making this latest non-oil investment a signal of how the China-Angola relationship is evolving beyond its original resource-backed structure.
Semafor