Chinese Lending

Last week, China and Ecuador announced an agreement to restructure Ecuador's $4.4 billion in outstanding debt, and also advanced trade talks and said they hoped to reach a trade deal by December.

A new report by a Boston University center offers some analysis of the recent decision of the Chinese government to forgive some interest-free loans made in African countries.

Last week, the Solomon Islands government announced that it had signed a contract with Huawei for the construction of mobile communications towers, with US$66 million in funding for the deal coming from China's Exim Bank.

A new policy brief from the Boston University Global Development Center looks at Chinese loans to Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting a recent decline and possible shift towards foreign direct investment instead.

As part of an event hosted by the Bretton Woods Committee, World Bank President David Malpass was asked by Bretton Woods Committee Vice Chair William R. Rhodes about several issues related to Chinese lending, such as transparency and debt restructuring.

A new paper from a research center at Johns Hopkins University examines the controversy over Chinese lending for a Kenyan railway and the possible seizure of a Kenyan port, which has been put forward as an example of China's "debt trap diplomacy." The paper concludes as follows: "we believe that