Gallagher Publishes Op-Ed on Chinese Development Finance
Kevin Gallagher, Professor of Global Development Policy and Director of the Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center) at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a Project Syndicate op-ed on China and its overseas development financing.
In the article, titled “China Takes the Lead in Development Finance,” Gallagher and co-author Rebecca Ray explore the finding of the new GDP Center database- the “China’s Overseas Development Finance Database” – which show that China has become a cornerstone of global development financing, almost to the level of the World Bank.
While these financing projects have helped some of the worlds poorest countries in trying economic times, the authors pointed out that they pose a significant risk the the planet. They argue that “China, its debtors, and the international community need to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of this much-needed global development finance.”
An excerpt:
A new interactive dataset from Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center tracks the overseas sovereign loan commitments of China’s two global policy banks – China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China. Between 2008 and 2019, China’s global development finance totaled $462 billion, just $5 billion short of the World Bank’s sovereign commitments in the same period.
The full article can be read on Project Syndicate‘s website.
Kevin Gallagher is a professor of global development policy at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, where he directs the Global Development Policy Center. He is author or co-author of six books, including most recently, The China Triangle: Latin America’s China Boom and the Fate of the Washington Consensus. Read more about him here.