Faced with the economic crisis and the resulting shortage of US dollars and other hard currencies, Egypt launched a three-year sustainability bond worth 3.5 billion yuan ($478 million) in October.
Last year, more than 150 billion yuan worth of panda bonds were issued in China, with the number of issuers increasing by more than 80 percent year-on-year, according to Chinese data.
Ji also said at the summit that the yuan could play a greater role in trade and cooperation between African countries and China, with opportunities for currency swaps and cross-border payment settlements.
For example, China and Kenya could use yuan and “Kenyan shillings to conduct cross-border trade,” Ji said.
Beijing is promoting the use of local currencies as part of its efforts to wean the continent off the dollar. The Bank of China said last year that its Zambian branch would strengthen the yuan as a trading currency in Africa.
Also last year, South Africa’s largest bank, Standard Bank, and China’s largest state-owned bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, renewed a long-standing partnership that facilitates the use of the Chinese currency in 15 African markets.
In other parts of the world, the use of the yuan as a trade currency has also increased dramatically, with more and more countries – including Brazil, Argentina, Iraq and Pakistan – accepting Chinese trade payments in yuan.
Saudi Arabia is reportedly considering financing oil trade with China through the yuan. The use of the Chinese currency has also increased dramatically in Russian-Chinese trade since the West imposed sanctions on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.
The Nairobi summit said Beijing was ready to export its model of financial inclusion – which has led to the creation of fintech giants such as Tencent and Ant Group – to Africa, where it could serve as a role model.
Ji said Chinese authorities have given fintech companies room to grow through a “tolerant, open and supportive” regulatory environment.
Africa can achieve similar success if countries accelerate digital financial inclusion through regulatory reforms that promote financing for small, medium and micro enterprises and agribusiness, he said.
“We should go beyond large-scale projects,” Ji said, pointing to the need to finance more small businesses that serve a wider population.
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Pay with your palm: Tencent introduces new payment method in China
Pay with your palm: Tencent introduces new payment method in China
Also attending the summit was Bei Duoguang, president of the China Academy of Financial Inclusion at Renmin University, who pointed out that China’s digital financial inclusion began with the use of mobile phones for payments.
This has evolved into digital lending and borrowing, and fintechs are now developing digital insurance, he said.
A total of 106 companies from Africa, China and other Asian countries became founding members of the Afro-Asia Fintech Association, which was also presented at the event and whose aim is to promote digital financial inclusion.
April Long, founder and CEO of Pyxis Go, a cross-border mobile payments platform and a member of the association, said that while personal money transfers are possible between Kenya and China, the service is not offered to businesses.
Cross-border payment solutions would help individual merchants pay for their products, as China remains the main source of goods for African merchants, she said.
Trade between China and Africa is huge, reaching $282.1 billion in 2023, up 1.5 percent year-on-year, according to Chinese customs data.
Grace Kyokunda, chief investment officer at the African Development Bank, said Africa has a lot to learn from China’s digital financial integration. “We look forward to strengthening our partnership with China in developing digital financial solutions for underserved populations,” she said.
