China’s finance and investment spending in the Belt and Road countries fell slightly in the first half compared to a year ago, with no new coal projects and investments zero in Russia, Egypt and Sri Lanka, new research showed, Reuters reported.
Saudi Arabia was the largest recipient of Chinese investment with about $5.5 billion, according to the Shanghai-based Green Finance and Development Center (GFDC) in research published on Sunday.
GFDC said total funding and investment stood at $28.4 billion in the period, up from $29.6 billion a year earlier, bringing total cumulative Belt and Road spending from 2013 to $932 billion.
President Xi Jinping launched the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 with the aim of harnessing China’s strengths in financing and building infrastructure to “build a broader community of common interests” across Asia, Africa and Latin America. .
But it has come under scrutiny for other issues like debt burden on countries and environmental degradation. Some countries have renegotiated their investment projects with China, highlighting credit risks.
No new coal projects received Chinese support in the period following Xi’s pledge at the UN General Assembly last September to end foreign coal financing.
However, a Chinese developer won a bid to build a thermal power plant in Indonesia in February, and there is still 11.2 GW of capacity that has already secured financing, although construction has begun, according to GFDC, part of Shanghai’s Fudan University. remains to be done, according to Reuters.
The GFDC said China continues to support other fossil fuel projects in the Belt and Road countries, with oil and gas accounting for about 80% of China’s foreign energy investments and 66% of its construction contracts.
In the first half of the year, engagement in gas projects stood at $6.7 billion, compared to $9.5 billion in the previous year, it said.
Green energy and hydropower transactions declined 22% compared to a year ago. Investments rose from $400 million to $1.4 billion, but construction spending related to green energy fell to $1.6 billion, less than half of a year earlier, Reuters reported.
