Japan pledges $17.5b in aid to Africa over 5 years

DHAKA: Japan is to give US$14 billion in aid to Africa over the next five years, prime minister Shinzo Abe said Saturday at the opening of a conference in Tokyo on the resource-rich continent.

‘The ODA (overseas development aid) will be about 1.4 trillion yen,’ Abe said at the start of the three-day, five-yearly conference, with leaders of more then 40 African countries present.

Including this aid, ‘Japan will offer up to 3.2 trillion yen support to Africa’s growth via public and private sector investment’, he said, reports The Straits Times.

Japanese firms are keen to develop a slice of Africa’s growing market, and the country as a whole needs access to some of the resources the continent harbours.