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Author: BU Global Development Policy Ctr.

The Boston University Global Development Policy Center is a policy-oriented research center working to advance financial stability, human well-being and environmental sustainability across the globe.

What Do the African Development Bank Annual Meetings Mean for Chinese Energy Finance in Africa?

By Oyintarelado (Tarela) Moses This week, the African Development Bank (AfDB) convenes its annual meetings in Accra, Ghana under the theme of Achieving Climate Resilience and a Just Energy Transition for Africa. As countries throughout the region experience the effects ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Q&A: Africa’s Role in China’s Global Military Expansion: Defense Expert Unpacks a Thorny Issue

The head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral John Aquilino, on Tuesday added to the growing alarm in Washington DC defense circles about the global reach of China’s military. 

Speaking in front of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, Aquilino said China is building capacity to seize Taiwan, and: “The PRC also seeks to establish a network of overseas military installations that would extend its reach, allowing support for an increasingly global People’s Liberation ...

Building a Shared Future for All Life Along the Belt and Road Initiative

By Rebecca Ray This Sunday, May 22, marks International Day for Biological Diversity, and this year the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has chosen a theme of “building a shared future for all life.” China’s role ...

The Case for Cooperation Between Chinese and Western Development Finance Institutions

By Oyintarelado (Tarela) Moses Chinese lenders participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) conduct business within a broader ecosystem of financing for development. This complex web of actors work in a coordinated credit space, comprising development finance institutions, commercial ...

$1.9 Billion in 11 New Chinese Loans to Africa in 2020

By Jyhjong Hwang and Oyintarelado Moses The 2022 update to the Chinese Loans to Africa (CLA) Database, managed by the Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center, recorded 11 new loan commitments worth $1.9 billion from Chinese lenders to African government ...

5 Recommendations for Tackling the Sovereign Debt Challenge in Southern Africa 

By Daniel Bradlow and Magalie Masamba The COVID-19 pandemic has had a particularly profound adverse impact on Africa’s sovereign debt situation. Currently, 22 low-income African countries are either in debt distress or at high risk of debt distress. This ...

In the Pandemic Era, China is No Substitute for the IMF on Debt Restructuring

By James Sundquist In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, 90 countries have approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for some form of economic assistance. As in decades past, a multitude of developing countries appears to need debt relief ...

Africa, Latin America and the Active Non-Alignment Option

By Jorge Heine Seventeen African countries, most prominently South Africa, abstained in the United Nations General Assembly vote from condemning Russia for invading Ukraine and demanding Moscow stop fighting and withdraw its military forces. Many more that voted in favor of condemning ...

New Data Shows China’s Economic Relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean is Evolving

By Zara C. Albright and Rebecca Ray For the second year in a row, the China-Latin America Finance Database, jointly managed by the Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center and the Inter-American Dialogue, recorded no new official finance commitments from China to ...

Why Building Public Assets is Key for Debt Sustainability and Economic Growth

By Yan Wang and Yinyin Xu Public assets are a vast unknown and untapped resource. Consisting of real estate and operational assets, public assets include a country’s state-owned land, transport, and utilities, as well as its liquid financial assets and state-owned ...

Outlier or New Normal? Trends from the 2022 China’s Global Energy Finance Database Update

By Cecilia Han Springer 2021 saw persistent economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, narrowing borrowing capacities in developing countries, and a global trend towards phasing out coal. These factors converged in a shocking finding from the 2022 release of the China Global Energy Finance (CGEF) Database, managed ...

Data Analysis for Transparency and Accountability in China’s Overseas Economic Activity

The Global China Initiative (GCI) at the Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center manages five open-source databases tracking Chinese overseas development finance and investments. Through these databases, GCI aims to provide transparent data to aid the public, including policymakers, journalists, academic researchers, civil society, and others, ...
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