The Angola Government has awarded 24 projects worth US$1.27 billion to Chinese companies under a new credit line provided by China, Portuguese news agency Lusa reported on Monday.

Inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) to China rose 3.8 percent year-on-year to US$54.19 billion in the first five months of 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced on Sunday.

A total of 46 Chinese-owned firms have registered in Guinea-Bissau in the past five years, show data from the country’s Company Formalisation Centre.

The Executive Vice President of power company China Three Gorges International, Wu Shengliang, says the goals the firm had when it invested in Portuguese utility Energias de Portugal (EDP) have been “basically fulfilled”. Mr Wu added however that the company would not be seeking to increase its stake in the Portuguese firm.

The Bank of Portugal expects the country’s economy to grow 1.3 percent in 2016, it stated in its latest forecast, published on Wednesday.

Angola’s western province of Benguela is recording a rapid increase in its annual volume of banana production. It follows several recent upgrades to the province’s agricultural infrastructure, including improved irrigation systems, reported Angola’s news agency Angop.

China’s Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday said the country was actively engaged in creating a fair, equal and transparent market environment for foreign investors.

The World Bank Group has cut its 2016 growth estimates for several Portuguese-speaking Countries. In its latest ‘Global Economic Prospects’ report, published this week, the World Bank forecast Brazil’s gross domestic product (GDP) would contract by 4 percent year-on-year in 2016, extending the country’s recession into a third consecutive year. The Washington-based institution had forecast in January that Brazil would record a GDP decline of 2.5 percent in 2016.

China was the largest buyer of Brazilian beef in May, importing a total of 20,280 tonnes, worth US$84.3 million, said the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporters (Abiec).

A subsidiary of Chinese state-run firm China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group won a US$90-million contract to link 45,000 Angolan households to the electricity grid, local newspaper O País reported this week.

The aggregate investment of Chinese enterprises in Brazil has reached more than US$10 billion, said Guilherme Belli, head of the trade promotion and investment section at the Brazilian Embassy in China.

Aires Ali has been appointed as the new Ambassador of Mozambique to China. Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi appointed Mr Ali last week. He replaces António Inácio Júnior as the African nation’s top diplomatic representative in China, according to an official statement from Mr Nyusi’s office.