China Development Bank is to help finance massive natural gas project in Africa.
The Ghanian government has signed a $1 billion (CNY 6.3 billion) lending agreement with the China Development Bank Corp as part of the biggest loan in the nation's history, in order to increase energy output and create jobs.
An initial $850 million (CNY 5.4 billion) agreement between China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (CPCC parent company of Asia's biggest oil refiner Sinopec, and Ghana National Gas Co will fund a gas project and eventually send around 13,000 barrels-per-day to the growing superpower.
The total amount of loan will eventually top $3 billion (CNY 18.9 billion). However, Ghanian Vice President John Dramani Mahama has insisted that the nation's natural resources are in no way being used as collateral for the loan. In 2011, China exported just 132,200 tons of oil, or 2,655 barrels-per-day, from the West African nation – only 0.5% of its total imports.
Currently, the China Development Bank currently has over $200 billion (CNY 1.26 trillion) in foreign currency loans and also manages the China-Africa Development Fund, to which it has committed almost all of its first $1 billion.