The international community has extensively debated the effects of aid especially foreign financial aid and its influence on the growth of fintech in recipient nations. Conversely, the motivations behind financial aid and its repercussions have elicited significant apprehension globally. China has vigorously upheld its international duties, serving as the cornerstone of the Belt and Road Initiative. In the past period (2013-2022), China extended financial aid to African nations exceeded 180 billion yuan. This practice is frequently characterized by certain international perspectives as a mechanism of the “going out strategy”. This paper offers novel research views and empirical support for related domains as it employs the fixed-effect panel regression model to analyze data from the African Development Bank’s financial database and the Aid-Data database, aiming to investigate the impact of China’s aid on the development of fintech in Africa and to examine the potential mediating role of political risk in this relationship. This work employs multiple research methods, including endogeneity tests, heterogeneity tests, and robustness tests, to assure the trustworthiness of the research findings. The research findings indicate that China’s aid to Africa does not rely on the effect from political risk and demonstrates a clear direct positive impact on the development of fintech in recipient nations. In contrast, US aid exerts an indirect impact, primarily via political risk. This report also concludes that China’s aid to Africa has a more pronounced positive effect in oil-rich nations and sub-Saharan African countries. This study presents the following recommendations to enhance China-Africa cooperation, derived from the research findings: enhancing China’s foreign aid mechanism, augmenting its power within the international aid framework, and proactively assisting Chinese firms in penetrating the global market to help the underdeveloped nations.
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