TheChinese Loans to Latin America and the Caribbean (CLLAC) Database, jointly managed by the Inter-American Dialogue and the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, tracks public and publicly guaranteed loans from China’s two development finance institutions (DFIs) – the CDB and the Export-Import Bank of China (Ex-Im Bank) to LAC governments and state-owned enterprises. A new joint report discusses the trends and implications of the changing China-LAC financial relationship.

Key Findings:

• In 2023, the CLLAC Database recorded two loans to just one LAC country (Brazil) totaling $1.3 billion... as compared to peak DFI lending in 2010, when CDB alone issued nearly $25 billion to the region.
• Despite the drop in DFI finance in the region, Brazil continues to feature as an occasional recipient of recent Chinese DFI loans...in general, Chinese DFI finance to Brazil has moved from a focus on energy loans to other forms of finance over time...
• Chinese companies, now well established in much of the region and no longer dependent on DFI loans to generate opportunities for their involvement in infrastructure projects, are also accounting for more of China’s lending to LAC and other regions.
• China’s commercial banks have increasingly stepped into the fold, too, mainly through syndicated loans to Chinese or LAC companies...
• While the era of large-scale Chinese development finance in LAC may have passed, debt remains a concern for some countries...Suriname reported debt levels to Chinese creditors of over 5 percent of GDP, or projected debt service payments amounting to over 2 percent of projected exports over the next five years.