Japan believes that it can help African governments reduce high cost debt repayments built up in the last decade when China increased its lending to the continent.
Tokyo is strapped by the same fiscal pressures and rising right-wing populism being felt across the west making support for any large increase in aid spending hard to find. At the same time, its companies remain highly cautious about investing in Africa.
Despite those challenges, Japan sees potential in redirecting international debt financing to African governments, as south-east Asian countries — the heartland of Japan’s development efforts for decades — become self-standing economies.