‘Angola‐mode’ Trade Deals and the Awakening of African Lion Economies

After decades of continuous flows of mineral exports to rich Western countries and a failed development in Africa, the arrival of China on the African resource market with large infrastructure projects in exchange for access to resources has created completely new growth dynamics for oil‐rich African economies. The Chinese strategy of swapping infrastructure projects for mineral resources, known as an ‘Angola‐mode’ trade arrangement, has brought an army of Chinese infrastructure workers to Africa and contributed to the awakening of fast‐growing African ‘lion economies’. This article examines the role played by Sino‐African resource‐for‐infrastructure swap projects in Africa's new development dynamics. Using panel data of African countries over the period 2001–10, we find that by contributing to easing the infrastructural bottlenecks, Sino‐African trade has played a key role in the fast growth of oil‐rich African countries.