Boston University Global Development Policy Center

What has the latest data told us about China-Africa economic relations? In a new analysis in @ChinaGSProject, GDP Center's research fellow Mengdi Yue presents three highlights in the 2026 China-Africa Economic Bulletin: 🌟 Extractives, led by transition minerals like copper and bauxite, drive Africa's exports to China; zero-tariff policy is likely to lift volumes of products but may not diversify markets. 🌟 China supports Africa's energy transition mainly through low-carbon technology trade and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts; financing and equity investment remain limited. 🌟 The relationship is country-specific; host-country industrial and trade policies shape Chinese FDI, while debt servicing pressures risk sidelining climate and energy spending. Read more: chinaglobalsouth.com/analysis/china…

In 2024, 🇨🇳China’s economic relationship with African countries featured record-high trade values, revival of foreign direct investment from the COVID-19 pandemic and a dramatic decline of Chinese lending amid a broader reversal in net capital flows to the Global South. Check out our new report with @AERCAFRICA on China-Africa engagement across 3️⃣ domains—trade, investment and development finance: bu.edu/gdp/2026/05/20…

In 1994, @WorldBankGroup created the first independent accountability mechanism at an international organization. Today, the Bank has 3 mechanisms. For @ConversationUS, Non-Resident Senior Fellow @dannybradlow and David Hunter propose a new model of 2 separate accountability mechanisms to cover compliance reviews and dispute resolution. Read more: theconversation.com/the-world-bank…

How can Chinese debt sustainability analysis better serve Global South's development goals? A new blog by Tianyi Wu summarizes recent research on China’s current risk assessment and presents recommendations to rethink its models to be more aligned with Global South's development goals. Read more: bu.edu/gdp/2026/05/14…

Countries today face growing pressures from debt, climate shocks and geopolitics. The Global Financial Safety Net Tracker hosted by @GDP_Center is the first global interactive dataset that measures crisis finance lending capacity of @IMFNews, central bank currency swaps and regional financial arrangements. Drawing on data from the tracker, a workshop on May 21 at 10:30 – 11:30 AM EDT will present new evidence on which countries are most vulnerable to liquidity pressures during crises. Join event at this link: gdpcenter.org/4dkuNlL @UNCTAD @FU_Berlin @HTW_Berlin

🥂 The GDP Center has officially signed a new international academic partnership with the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, aimed to bridge academic collaboration and action for policy solutions across borders. Learn more: bu.edu/gdp/2026/05/08…

GDP Center Director @KevinPGallagher appeared on @BloombergTV's Wall Street Week to discuss the IMF's role in sustainably assisting emerging economies amid heightened global uncertainty around the Middle East conflict. Watch the segment starting at 23:35: youtu.be/KQ7PnL8ID-E?si…

Today marks the last day of the first conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels. A new blog by Kaihui Song synthesizes key insights from the Center's research on early coal retirement + explains why this is a critical moment. Read more: bu.edu/gdp/2026/04/28…

Join us + @HPE_Project at @BU_Tweets on 5/4-5/5 for a conference on significant moments of challenge to global economic governance in modern history. Panels will focus on 4 pivotal decades of change: the 1920s, the 1940s, the 1970s + the 1990s. Register: eventbrite.com/e/what-time-is…

A recent policy brief by Mengdi Yue, Diego Morro, Nicolò Capirone + Yiyuan Qi analyzes the latest data in 🇨🇳Chinese lending to Africa, with 2026 unfolding as a critical year of China-Africa relations. Read more: bu.edu/gdp/2025/11/13…

Carbon pricing is widely seen as the most efficient instrument for climate mitigation. However, in a recent technical paper, He Xiaobei, @MJ_GreenFinance + Guo Fang find non-pricing measures have significantly contributed to emission reductions in 🇨🇳China: bu.edu/gdp/2025/12/18…

@Europarl_EN 🇪🇺 published a revised regulation on compulsory licensing (CL), increasing region-wide access to "crisis-relevant products." A recent blog by @Thrasher_Rachel + co-authors draws lessons from the new policy for middle-income countries: bu.edu/gdp/2026/01/23…

In a new @ChinaGSProject analysis, @juradlie argues that 🇪🇨Ecuador's Coca Codo Sinclair Hydroelectric dam is "emerging as a defining case of how China deals with the fallout from controversial projects" across Latin America. Read more: chinaglobalsouth.com/analysis/china…

Our event with @BUPardeeSchool + @BUAfricaStudies ft. @njorogep is happening next week! Register to attend ⬇️

Ahead of the coming #USMCA review, 🇲🇽Mexico has a unique opportunity to increase labor incomes in alignment with President Sheinbaum's #PlanMéxico. In a recent working paper, Sandra Polaski explores a range of policies to make progress toward this goal: bu.edu/gdp/2026/01/28…

Can Latin America break free of the resource curse + build a just energy transition? A recent policy brief examines four countries' 🇦🇷🇨🇱🇨🇴🇵🇪 experience with 🇨🇳Chinese engagement in energy transition-related sectors. Read more: bu.edu/gdp/2026/03/16…

New in @ProSyn, @KevinPGallagher and former Kenyan Minister of Finance Njūgūna S. Ndūng'ū call on @IMFNews to take stock of the evidence pointing away from austerity towards country-specific programs to jump-start growth. Read more: project-syndicate.org/commentary/imf…

🌍 Updated with 2024 data, the Chinese Loans to Africa Database documents over 1,319 loan commitments amounting to $180.87B from 🇨🇳 Chinese development finance institutions + others to African govs, state-owned enterprises + others. Explore the data: bu.edu/gdp/chinese-lo…

New analysis in @OneEarth_CP analyzes 109 developing countries, finding each @IMFNews loan is associated with an avg. decrease in forest area nearly equal to the size of Barbados. Further research could 🔎 how the IMF shapes environmental trajectories: gdpcenter.org/41l9nQ7