Serbia: Chinese Development Finance, 2000-2023

This country profile provides a detailed overview of the scale, scope, and composition of Chinese state-directed financing in Serbia from 2000 to 2022. It includes granular information on key trends in China’s loan and grant-financed commitments, its lending portfolio, ESG risks in its infrastructure projects, and contractual safeguards adoption and implementation. From 2000 to 2023, China provided 83 grant-related official commitments and directed $7.1 billion via 39 loans issued in Serbia. The peak of Chinese financing to Serbia occurred in 2019, when the country received $1.6 billion in new aid and non-concessional loans, with a significant portion ($1.1 billion) coming from China Eximbank in the form of a preferential buyer’s credit for the Novi Sad–Subotica–State Border (Kelebija) section of the Hungarian-Serbian Railway Project.

The insights in this profile are derived from China's Global Loans and Grants Dataset, Version 1.0 and the sources referenced therein.