Today, Sydney’s Lowy Institute published new research showing that China has lost its status the largest single provider of development financing to Southeast Asia since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Southeast Asia Aid Map, which was released yesterday as an interactive map and accompanying report, tracks financing for more than 107,000 development projects funded by 97 development partners – both foreign governments and international non-government organizations – between 2015 and 2021. The data covers projects in all 11 Southeast Asian nations.
The institute found that during that period, the region received about $200 billion in official development finance – an average of around $28 billion per year – in a mix of grants, concessional and non-concessional development loans.