Zambia Profile of Chinese Development Finance, 2000-2023

This country profile provides a detailed overview of the scale, scope, and composition of Chinese state-directed financing in Zambia from 2000 to 2023. 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 132 grant-related official commitments and directed $12.7 billion via 111 loans issued in Zambia. Breaking with previous administrations, the strong pro-China stance that former President Lungu took when he ascended to office in 2015 was associated with a sharp increase in new commitments from China, with at least $2 billion in new commitments annually from 2016-2018. Since 2019, financing has since declined.

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