GLOBAL CHINA INITIATIVE
The Global China Initiative (GCI) advances policy-oriented research on China’s overseas economic activity and engagement with international institutions in order to enable financial stability, human well-being and environmental sustainability.
GLOBAL CHINA RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
For over 15 years, China has been a vital source of development finance for low- and middle-income countries around the world, committing nearly a half-trillion dollars in public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) finance since 2008.
With lending far below peak levels seen in 2015-2017, what is the current status of China’s overseas development finance? And what do these trends reveal about the potential future of China’s overseas lending?
In 2024, the China’s Overseas Development Finance (CODF) Database, managed by the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, recorded $6.1 billion in 20 new sovereign and publicly guaranteed loans. This figure is roughly in line with the trend since 2020, of an average of $6.2 billion through an average of 24 loans per year.
A new policy brief shares insights on the state of China’s overseas development finance from 2008-2024 and how borrowers, sectors and loan types have changed over the years. The update shows that for the first time from 2020-2024, China’s overseas development finance is shifting away from direct project finance and toward support of development finance intermediaries, like national and regional development banks.
Explore the Data Read the Policy BriefExplore the research
Latest News & Publications
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Lighting Up Africa: Chinese Development Finance’s Impact on Energy Poverty
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Empowering Africa: The Impact of China’s Power Finance on Energy Poverty
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Peer-to-Peer Lending: China’s Overseas Development Finance Pivots to National and Regional Development Banks
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Development Finance and Critical Minerals: Opportunities for Supporting Sustainability and Inclusion through Patient Capital
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Developing Countries Locked Out of Low-Carbon Technology Trade
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No New Coal: A Shift in the Composition of China’s Overseas Power Plant Portfolio?
April 28, 2025 In September 2021, Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged that China would stop financing new overseas coal-fired power plants and instead pledged to ramp up support... [ More ]
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PBOC Swap Lines and the IMF in the Global Financial Architecture: Competition or Cooperation?
April 28, 2025By Julian Watrous and Stephen Paduano The last two decades have seen a fundamental shift in global sovereign lending patterns. By the late 2010s, China emerged... [ More ]
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The Lender of First Resort? Chinese Swap Lines, the IMF and the Changing International Financial Architecture
April 28, 2025Since its founding, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has in theory sought to act as the international “lender of last resort,” providing financing to countries... [ More ]