Chinese lending has shifted from Belt and Road to rescue finance, report says

Chinese financial institutions lent $1.34 trillion to developing countries from 2000 to 2021, U.S. researchers at AidData said in a report that showed the world's biggest bilateral lender switching from infrastructure to rescue lending. While lending commitments peaked at almost $136 billion in 2016, China still committed to almost $80 billion of loans and grants in 2021, according to the data, which captures almost 21,000 projects in 165 low- and middle-income countries as probably the most comprehensive dataset of its type. Overseas finance has won Beijing allies across the developing world, while drawing criticism from the West and in some…