In 2023, China’s development finance institution (DFI) issued two loans totaling $1.3 billion to Brazil. Chinese DFI lending in 2023 was slightly higher than the $863 million issued by CDB and Ex-Im Bank in 2022. Despite this slight increase, China’s sovereign lending remains modest.
In the newest episode of The China-Global South Project Podcast, Margaret Myers, director of the Asia and Latin America Program at the Inter-American Dialogue, considered new trends in Chinese economic engagement with the LAC region.
Margaret Myers and Rebecca Ray wrote for The China Global South Project on Chinese Finance to LAC in 2022.
China’s development finance institutions demonstrated renewed interest in lending to LAC in 2022, issuing US$813 million in loans to three LAC governments or state institutions.
Again this year, China’s policy banks—China Development Bank (CDB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (Eximbank)—issued no new finance to Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) governments or state-run companies, according to findings from the Inter-American Dialogue’s Asia and Latin America Program and the Boston University Global Development Policy Center (GDP).
China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China issued no new finance to Latin American and Caribbean governments or state-run companies in 2020.
The emergence of China as a new economic partner presents trade offs for Amazon basin countries. Without special care to avoid and minimize ecological and social impacts, the costs of development run the risk of outweighing its gains.
