CHINA-BRI: US COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTRE 'AIDDATA' SAYS 42 LOW AND MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES HAVE DEBT EXPOSURE TO CHINA EXCEEDING TEN PERCENT OF THEIR GDP

The Wall Street Journal (September 28) reported that on September 26, AidData, a research center at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., released an in-depth report on China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which counted 42 low- and middle-income countries that now have debt exposure to China exceeding 10% of their annual gross domestic product. It identifies $385 billion in Chinese loans as not included in nations’ official borrowing—or nearly half of China’s overseas lending for construction of roads, railways and power plants. This hidden debt has become more common because lenders fund activity through special-purpose corporations instead of host governments. The report also estimates 35% of China’s overseas infrastructure projects have faced major problems like corruption scandals, labor violations, environmental hazards and public pushback. AidData links almost 400 projects valued at $8.3 billion to China’s military. The report unravels details of $843 billion in Chinese loans for 13,427 projects primarily between 2000 and 2017. AidData said its findings show Beijing has both before and under the Belt and Road plan consistently pursued three goals: turning the enormous haul of dollars earned by the nation’s exporters into foreign loans; keeping its massive domestic construction and industrial sectors busy by pursuing building projects abroad; and securing commodities like oil and grain to plug domestic shortfalls. Some 49% of Chinese lending during the period covered by AidData has been earmarked for Africa. A separate study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Boston University says outlays to that region dropped almost 30% in 2019, to $7 billion from $9.9 billion the previous year. Wu Peng, a top Chinese Foreign Ministry official for Africa, this month told the China Africa Project nonprofit media organization that Chinese lenders have agreed to suspend payments on debt owed by 19 African countries since the advent of Covid-19. 





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