Category: Front Page

Debt Relief by Multilateral Lenders: Why, How and How Much?

As the sovereign debt crisis in the Global South continues to unfold, the lack of involvement of multilateral development banks (MDBs) in debt relief efforts has become a contentious issue among major creditors. Although the Group of 20 (G20) has explicitly called for MDBs to develop options to share the burden of debt relief efforts, […]

Empirical Analysis of Chinese Overseas Power Plant Investments: Likelihood of Suspensions and Associated Environmental Risks

In recent years, China has emerged as one of the world’s largest financiers in the global energy sector, and Chinese-financed overseas power projects have received considerable attention both for their large scale and contribution to energy accessibility, particularly in developing countries. However, from 2014-2020, about $65 billion of Chinese-backed coal-fired power plants were shelved or […]

Summer in the Field: Documenting Whistled Languages in South Africa

By Andre Batchelder-Schwab We arrived at the traditional chief’s palace with two buckets of KFC chicken, soft drinks and the cash equivalent of $15. Chief Nethengwe nods, accepting the ya nduvho “of praise” that is expected for meeting traditional leaders in this area of South Africa. Chief Nethengwe asks us why we have driven seven […]

A New State of Lending: Chinese Loans to Africa

A new update to the Chinese Loans to Africa (CLA) Database, managed by the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, estimates that from 2000-2022, 39 Chinese lenders provided 1,243 loans amounting to $170.08 billion to 49 African governments and seven regional institutions. For the years 2021 and 2022 combined, the CLA Database recorded a total […]

How Innovative Financing Mechanisms Can Green the Belt and Road Initiative

By Niccolò Manych and Ishana Ratan The year 2023 marks the tenth anniversary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Over the last decade, the BRI has evolved into the world’s largest international investment program. In 2022, the annual financial volume reached $67.8 billion, with a significant portion directed towards the power sector. Notably, investments […]

Promoting Sustainable Development: The Role of Innovative Financing Mechanism

In September 2021, at the 76th United Nations General Assembly, Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced that China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad. Since then, renewable energy has become a key area in promoting the green development of […]

GDP Center Round-Up: G20 India Leaders’ Summit

By Claire Paul On September 9-10, the Group of 20 (G20) will meet in New Delhi, India for its Leaders’ Summit – a critical moment for world leaders as pressure for action on climate, the looming debt crisis, international architecture reform and capital resource mobilization – to name just a few key issues – mounts. […]

Summer in the Field: Validating Confidence When Working with Linked Healthcare Data

By Evelyn Lauren The utilization of large-scale, national-level administrative health data is a very powerful tool to monitor the health of populations. It allows for directly assessing the impact of health policies on a nationwide scale by leveraging the availability of millions of records, eliminating the need for interpolations that are often required when using […]