China is steadily pulling back the reins on its lending practices in Africa, according to a new report published on Monday by the China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at Johns Hopkins University. Researchers Deborah Brautigam and Kevin Acker found that Chinese loans to African public sector borrowers fell again in 2019 to $7.7 billion, down 30% from the year before. And that is a significant decrease when measured against the $28 billion that China lent in 2016.

CARI’s new figures about what’s happening in Africa echo similar findings made by researchers at Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center last year that showed an equally dramatic plunge in total lending by China’s two policy banks, the China Development Bank and the China Exim Bank. In that case, lending amounts went from $75 billion in 2016 to just $4 billion in 2019.