The Plunge in China's Overseas Lending

The China in Africa Podcast

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.

BU's findings have generated quite a bit of discussion and while other analysts may disagree with some of their results, most share their conclusion that Chinese policy bank lending has indeed fallen precipitously with no indication as to if or when it'll rebound.

Kevin Gallagher, director of the Global Development Policy Center, and Rebecca Ray, a senior academic researcher there were among the leads who helped to build the new interactive database that tracks Chinese policy bank lending around the world. They both join Eric & Cobus from Boston to discuss their research and why Beijing is now far more judicious with its loans.

SHOW NOTES:

• The Chinese Overseas Development Finance interactive database.
• Blog post: Tracking China’s Overseas Development Finance

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Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @KevinPGallagher | @BUBeckyRay | @GDPC_BU

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