China is likely to boost imports from African countries as it seeks new sources of commodities in the wake of a trade war with the United States, a senior executive of Standard Chartered Bank in China has said.
Trade links between the Asian economic powerhouse and African nations like Kenya and Nigeria have been growing robustly in recent years, offering opportunities to lenders who serve Chinese clients doing business on the continent like Standard Chartered.
Carmen Ling, Standard Chartered’s global head of the internationalisation of the Chinese currency renminbi (RMB), cautioned that there would be no winners from the trade war in the short term, but added some African nations could gain in the long term.
She was quoted as saying “we believe that countries like Kenya and Nigeria will benefit because China will look to import more from Africa; some agricultural products from Kenya, some oil products from Nigeria.Trade flow patterns will change because China will need to look for new trade partners.”
Source: New Telegraph