from Griffith Asia Institute, a unit of Australia’s Griffith University, shows 10 years after the launch of China’s Belt & Road Initiative cumulative engagement tops $1 trillion with about $634 billion in construction contracts and $419 billion in non-financial investments.
Last year Africa overtook the Middle East as the no. 1 target of BRI projects after a 114% jump in investments and a 47% jump in construction projects on the continent. Investments in Latin America and the Caribbean also doubled last year.China’s BRI-related investment in metals and mining reached $19.4 billion in 2023 according to the study, a 158% jump compared to 2022 and the highest on record.
Apart from a giant new copper processing facility in Saudi Arabia, mining investments were focused in Indonesia and various countries in Africa and South America. Downstream investment in battery and electric vehicle manufacturing also soared, reaching nearly $10 billion, according to the report. The largest investors under the BRI last year were CATL, accounting for more than 15% of overall spending, followed by Zijin Mining at 11%.