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The Plunge in China’s Overseas Lending

by Eric Olander

Getting a loan from one of China’s two largest policy banks is significantly more difficult than it was just a couple of years ago. According to data from Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center, lending by the China Development Bank and the China Exim Bank plunged 94% from $75 billion in 2016 to just $4 billion in 2019.

This is a dramatic shift given that these two banks alone over the past 20 years have lent nearly as much as the World Bank.

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