
China spent 240 billion dollars to rescue 22 developing countries from the economic crisis. That amount was spent between 2008 and 2021, rising in recent years as many have tried to repay loans spent on building Belt & Road infrastructure, according to a study published in Reuters.
Almost 80% of bailout lending took place between 2016 and 2021, mostly in 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.
China has lent hundreds of billions of dollars to build infrastructure in developing countries, but lending has been reduced since 2016 as many projects have failed to pay expected financial dividends.
"Beijing is ultimately trying to save 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.