Category: Economy

Chinese lending to developing countries has come under sharp focus since the release of several reports that have reshaped the debate. Unsurprisingly, many news reports, like the BBC’s “China: Big spender or loan shark” are ringing the alarm bells. However, I’d argue that the reports should rather prompt new ...

Borrowing among the world's poorest countries jumped 12% last year pushing up the total amount owed to a record $860 billion, according to a new report released on Tuesday by the World Bank.  Not surprisingly, World Bank economists ...

One of the key discussions in the run-up to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit is whether China is stepping away from funding large-scale infrastructure projects like roads and ports.  So it was particularly interesting to see the announcement this week of ...

Zambia owes at least 18 Chinese creditors $6.6 billion, nearly twice as much as previously stated, according to a new report published by the China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at Johns Hopkins University. And that figure may be even higher as it ...

Chongqing is a massive industrial city in China's heartland that many outsiders are unfamiliar with despite its enormous size. The city alone has a GDP of $386 billion, larger than both South Africa ($310 billion) and Egypt ($363 billion).

China is scouring the globe for new sources of coal in an effort to stem the blackouts that have afflicted millions of residents and businesses in at least nine provinces over the past several weeks. While the ongoing crisis is now threatening China's post-pandemic ...

Many presumed that the $3 billion Sengwa coal-fired power plant project in Zimbabwe was doomed after the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China withdrew its support earlier this year as the project's largest financier. Not so, according to plant's owner RioZim that said in its half-year trading ...

Even amid the pandemic, Chinese investment overseas last year increased by 12.3% to $153.71 billion, according to a new report published last week by the Ministry of Commerce, National Bureau of Statistics, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. 2.8% of ...

For much of the past twenty years, since the first FOCAC summit in 2000, China's engagement strategy on the continent has focused predominantly on anglophone countries in southern and eastern Africa like Kenya, Zambia, and South Africa. Angola, of course, was an important exception. ...

Algeria will become the second African country after Egypt to begin local production of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines.  A new "fill-and-finish" facility in the eastern city of Constantine will begin producing Sinovac jabs on Wednesday. The government says initial output will range between 1-3 million doses per month through ...

AidData, the development research lab at William & Mary College in Virginia, published a landmark report this week that provides the most comprehensive overview to date of Chinese financing of projects along the Belt and Road. Researchers pored through 13,247 projects ...

Beijing gave its blessing on Wednesday to the new creditors committee that China's co-chairing with France to overhaul Ethiopia's $30 billion debt. The committee, operating under the auspices of the G20, met for the first time on September 16th and plans ...