The rise of Chinese development finance: Risks or opportunities ahead?

The rise of Chinese development finance: Risks or opportunities ahead?

Heather Hutchings, Bond, 20 October 2020

China’s overseas development spending rocketed to US$69.6 billion in 2009 – more than double the US commitment that same year and a five-fold increase on China’s own 2008 lending. Since then, China has pursued an ambitious development strategy through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched in 2013. This initiative now encompasses more than 70 countries, which is one third of global trade and over 60% of the world’s population, by the World Bank’s assessment. As highlighted in Bond’s report on transitions shaping the UK’s international development system, China has cemented its position as one of the world’s largest development financers. And it paves new routes to development – typically non-conditional, chiefly commercial, loans to fund mega-infrastructure development projects delivered by Chinese state-owned companies.

Read the blog in full here.