SAIS-CARI launches new Interactive Database on Chinese loans commitments to Africa

With U.S.-China relations deteriorating and African debt issues worsening in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, policymakers, academics, and journalists are increasingly interested in China’s lending to Africa. As a result, the China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) has launched its new interactive database of Chinese loan commitments to African governments and their state-owned enterprises, making loan-level data from 2000 to 2018 accessible to the public and available for download for the first time.

 

CARI’s highly trained, multilingual team of researchers identified more than 1,000 loans worth approximately $148 billion that Chinese financiers provided to African governments and their state-owned enterprises by collecting data through open-source research and conducting fieldwork and interviews in Africa. The research team confirmed loans included in the database through official sources, such as African Ministries of Finance, central bank documents, or reports by Chinese embassies in Africa.

 

The research team will regularly update the database, funded through a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York, to provide users with the most up to date data on Chinese loan commitments to Africa. For more details, visit the database and the SAIS-CARI website. A video recording of the database’s July 2 launch event is available on the event’s webpage. 

 

Kevin Acker

Research Manager

China Africa Research Initiative

+1 (202) 663-5962

 

Marie Foster

Program Coordinator

China Africa Research Initiative

+1 (202) 663-5962

 

Miji Bell

Director of Communications and Media Relations

Johns Hopkins SAIS

+1 (202) 587-3205

 

Jason Lucas

Communications Manager

Johns Hopkins SAIS

+1 (202) 663-5620 

 

The SAIS China Africa Research Initiative (SAIS-CARI) launched in 2014 at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) to promote evidence-based understanding of the relations between China and African countries through high quality data collection, field research, conferences, and collaboration. The mission of SAIS-CARI is promoting research, conducting evidence-based analysis, fostering collaboration, and training future leaders to better understand the economic and political dimensions of China-Africa relations and their implications for human security and global development.

A division of Johns Hopkins University, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a global institution that offers students an international perspective on today's critical issues. For 75 years, Johns Hopkins SAIS has produced great leaders, thinkers, and practitioners of international relations. Public leaders and private sector executives alike seek the counsel of the faculty, whose ideas and research inform and shape policy. Johns Hopkins SAIS offers a global perspective across three campus locations: Bologna, Italy; Nanjing, China; and Washington, D.C. The school's interdisciplinary curriculum is strongly rooted in the study of international economics, international relations, and regional studies, preparing students to address multifaceted challenges in the world today. 

 

For more information, visit sais.jhu.edu or on Twitter @SAISHopkins

 

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