Category: Loans
South African Utility Boss’s Trip to China Sparks Outrage Back Home Where Millions Fume Without Power
The acting CEO of troubled South African state-owned utility Eskom, Calib Cassim, provoked widespread outrage late last week when it was revealed that he led a high-level delegation to China that also included Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. Civil society ...
The Real Drivers and Impacts of Chinese Overseas Lending and Development Finance
By Oyintarelado Moses Debates about the drivers and impacts of Chinese overseas lending and development finance (OLDF) have accompanied the rise of China as the world’s largest official bilateral lender. Amidst stalled debt negotiations under the ...
New African Debt Database Shows Chinese Loans Are Cheap, But Not the Cheapest
Researchers at the Kiel Institue for the World Economy in Germany launched a new database of African debt that confirms a key Chinese talking point: Beijing's loans to African countries are significantly cheaper than those of commercial creditors. However, David Mihalyi and ...
China’s Lending Money Again to Countries in the Americas
Chinese lending to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean is gaining momentum. For the second year in a row, China's two largest policy banks have increased lending to countries in the region, albeit in much smaller amounts than what they ...
Lending Data Offers Clue to China’s Global South Influence
A new report led by the U.S.-based research center AidData is drawing global attention this week. It shows that from 2008 to 2021, China spent $240 billion in bailouts and liquidity support to 22 Global South countries. Even though the report focuses ...
Benin’s Finance Minister Meets With China Exim Bank President
Beninese Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni is in Beijing this week, where he met with China Exim Bank President Ren Shengjun. Neither side released details of the meeting, but it does highlight how China Exim Bank is continuing to engage African governments ...
Another $4 Billion on the Table? The Role of China’s Sinosure in Africa’s Debt Negotiations
By Oyintarelado Moses On February 17, 2023, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) convened a roundtable discussion on sovereign debt restructuring, bringing together creditor and debtor stakeholders involved with ongoing and upcoming debt restructurings. Leading ...
India Thinks It Can Persuade China to Take Big Losses on Its Loans to Poor Countries
The Indian government, in its role as rotating head of the Group of 20, is drafting what will no doubt be a controversial proposal that calls on all major international creditors, namely China, to take large losses on its loans to poor countries.
China Blocked Kenya From Getting Competitive Bids to Build Costly Railway, Supreme Court Told
Kenya’s Supreme Court hearings into the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) deal are revealing a deal tainted by collusion between Chinese and Kenyan actors. The account emerging from testimony shows that the deal defied oversight from the start. COMPETITIVE BIDDING: Financing depended on China ...
What’s Driving the Steady Decline in Chinese Overseas Development Lending?
There was a time when Chinese lending to developing countries rivaled the World Bank. Those days are now long gone as Chinese overseas development lending has been on a steady downward trajectory.
Why Chinese Lending to Pacific Island Countries Has Steadily Declined in Recent Years
Chinese lending to Pacific Island Countries (PICs) is now at its lowest level in 15 years, according to new data published by the Australian think tank Lowy Institute. The findings may come as a surprise, given China's heightened diplomatic and security ...
China’s Overseas Development Finance Totaled $10.5 Billion in 2020-21, Lowest in Recent Years
By Rebecca Ray After providing a staggering amount of finance for overseas development projects in the wake of the global financial crisis, Chinese overseas development finance has been on a general downward trend for several years. New data shows the pandemic ...