China's Development Finance

New report, Banking on the Belt and Road, offers the clearest look yet

Project Locations

Behind the scenes of the world’s most comprehensive dataset on China’s overseas development finance program

Take a closer look at what makes AidData's Global Chinese Development Finance dataset unique, the data collection process, and how to navigate the dataset in these videos.

The world’s most comprehensive dataset on China’s overseas development finance program

Collecting the data on China's overseas development finance

How to navigate our dataset on China's overseas development finance


About the dataset

13,427

projects

165

countries

$843 billion

financial commitments tracked

2000-2017

years covered

60+

variables

China.AidData.org

Search comprehensive project records about China's overseas development finance program.

Banker or benefactor?

Trends from China's rise as a financier of first resort

Before the launch of China's Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, China and the U.S. were overseas spending rivals. However, China is now outspending the U.S. and other major powers on a more than 2:1 basis. In an average year during the BRI era, China spent $85 billion on their overseas development program, as compared to the U.S.’s $37 billion.

Over the last two decades, China has provided record amounts of international development finance and established itself as a financier of first resort for many low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially for infrastructure projects. The number of “mega-projects”—financed with loans worth $500 million or more—approved each year tripled during the first five years of the Belt and Road Initiative.

In order to share credit risk and support projects that they would not otherwise finance on their own, China’s state-owned banks are increasingly coordinating and collaborating via lending syndicates and other co-financing arrangements. The percentage of Beijing’s overseas lending portfolio that is co-financed has soared and now stands at approximately 32%.

How much debt to China have low- and middle-income governments accumulated—and how much is hidden?

4.2%

average interest rate

under 2 years

average grace period

under 10 years

average maturity length

42 countries

now have levels of public debt exposure to China in excess of...

10%

of GDP on average, for a total of...

$385 billion

in underreported debt