Africa-India

Funds bait for African oil
R. SURYAMURTHY

New Delhi, Nov. 4: The government is planning to give financial assistance to oil-rich African countries in return for access to crude and gas reserves.

Such a strategy is in the light of a flare-up in the global price of crude that has made it necessary for the country to look beyond West Asia for its supplies.

India imports 75 per cent of its crude requirements, with 73 per cent coming from West Asia and 16 per cent from Africa.

This approach is similar to the one being followed by China. Recently, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has one-tenth of the world’s copper reserves, gave a Chinese company a majority stake in a mining joint venture as well as mineral rights, in return for a $5-billion loan.