中國斥資 2,400 億美元救助 “一帶一路”國家 - 研究

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

China spent $240 billion bailing out 'Belt and Road' countries - study

Mon, March 27, 2023 at 3:06 p.m. PDT

By Rachel Savage

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -China spent $240 billion bailing out 22 developing countries between 2008 and 2021, with the amount soaring in recent years as more have struggled to repay loans spent building "Belt and Road" infrastructure, a study published on Tuesday showed.

Almost 80% of the lending was made between 2016 and 2021, mainly to middle-income countries including Argentina, Mongolia and Pakistan, according to the report by researchers from the World Bank, Harvard Kennedy School, AidData and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

China has lent hundreds of billions of dollars to build infrastructure in developing countries, but lending has tailed off since 2016 as many projects have failed to pay the expected financial dividends.

"Beijing is ultimately trying to rescue its own banks. That's why it has gotten into the risky business of international bailout lending," said Carmen Reinhart, a former World Bank chief economist and one of the study's authors.

Chinese loans to countries in debt distress soared from less than 5% of its overseas lending portfolio in 2010 to 60% in 2022, the study found.

Argentina received the most, with $111.8 billion, followed by Pakistan with $48.5 billion and Egypt with $15.6 billion. Nine countries received less than $1 billion.

The People's Bank of China's (PBOC) swap lines accounted for $170 billion of the financing, including in Suriname, Sri Lanka and Egypt. Bridge loans or balance of payments support by Chinese state-owned banks and companies was $70 billion. Rollovers of both kinds of loans were $140 billion.

The study was critical of some central banks potentially using the PBOC swap lines to artifically pump up their foreign exchange reserve figures.

China's rescue lending is "opaque and uncoordinated," said Brad Parks, one of the report's authors, and director of AidData, a research lab at The College of William & Mary in the United States.

China's government hit back at the criticism, saying its overseas investments operated on "the principle of openness and transparency".

"China acts in accordance with market laws and international rules, respects the will of relevant countries, has never forced any party to borrow money, has never forced any country to pay, will not attach any political conditions to loan agreements, and does not seek any political self-interest," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a news conference on Tuesday.

The bailout loans are mainly concentrated in the middle income countries that make up four-fifths of its lending, due to the risk they pose to Chinese banks' balance sheets, whereas low income countries are offered grace periods and maturity extensions, the report said.

China is negotiating debt restructurings with countries including Zambia, Ghana and Sri Lanka and has been criticized for holding up the processes. In response, it has called on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to also offer debt relief.

(Reporting by Rachel Savage; Additional reporting by Laurie Chen in Beijing; Editing by Richard Chang and Jacqueline Wong)

Translation

約翰內斯堡（路透社）- 週二公佈的一項研究顯示，中國在 2008 年至 2021 年期間斥資 2,400 億美元救助 22 個發展中國家，隨著越來越多的國家難以償還用於建設“一帶一路”基礎設施的貸款，該數額近年來飆升。

根據世界銀行、哈佛大學肯尼迪學院、AidData 和 Kiel Institute for the World Economy的研究人員的報告，近 80% 的貸款是在 2016 年至 2021 年期間發放的，主要流向阿根廷、蒙古和巴基斯坦等中等收入國家 .

中國已向發展中國家提供數千億美元的基礎設施建設貸款，但自 2016 年以來，由於許多項目未能支付預期的財政紅利，貸款逐漸減少。

前世界銀行首席經濟學家、該研究報告的作者之一 Carmen Reinhart表示： “北京最終是在試圖拯救自己的銀行。這就是它涉足救助國際貸款這一高風險業務的原因。”

研究發現，中國向陷入債務困境的國家提供的貸款佔其海外貸款組合的比例從 2010 年的不到 5% 飆升至 2022 年的 60%。

阿根廷獲得的資金最多，為 1,118 億美元，其次是巴基斯坦，為 485 億美元，埃及為 156 億美元。 九個國家收到的資金不到 10 億美元。

中國人民銀行 (PBOC) 的互換額度佔融資的 1,700 億美元，包括在蘇里南、斯里蘭卡和埃及。 中國國有銀行和公司提供的過橋貸款或國際收支支持為 700 億美元。 兩種貸款的展期額度均為 1,400 億美元。

該研究批評一些中央銀行可能利用中國人民銀行互換額度, 人為地提高其外匯儲備數據。

報告作者之一、美國威廉瑪麗學院研究實驗室 AidData 主任 Brad Parks 說，中國的救助貸款 “不透明且不協調” 。

中國政府對批評進行了回擊，稱其海外投資是本著 “公開透明的原則”運作的。

外交部發言人毛寧週二在新聞發布會上說: “中國按照市場規律和國際規則行事，尊重有關國家的意願，從不強迫任何一方借錢，從不強迫任何國家償還，不在貸款協議中附加任何政治條件，不謀求任何政治私利” 。

報告稱，救助貸款主要集中在中等收入國家，佔其貸款的五分之四，因為它們對中國銀行的資產負債表構成風險，而低收入國家則獲得寬限期和期限延期。

中國正在與讚比亞、加納和斯里蘭卡等國就債務重組進行談判，並因拖延進程而受到批評。 作為回應，它呼籲世界銀行和國際貨幣基金組織也提供債務減免。

So, China spent $240 billion bailing out 22 developing countries between 2008 and 2021, mainly related to building "Belt and Road" infrastructure. For self interest, China is eager to bailout larger loans due to the risk they may pose to Chinese banks' balance sheets. It seems that China is a global big money lender and doing it as a business (and also probably to buy influence). It is interesting to know that if overseas projects fail to pay the expected financial dividends, it will affect the financial position in China. I am wondering why these countries seek loans from China and not the IMF or the World Bank, is it easier to borrow from China?