Interim Report: Tracking evolving scope, discovering emerging opportunities

• Consistent with China’s broad shift from bilateral to multilateral co-operation, B&R has continued to evolve and expand as China seeks to consolidate its global activity under the initiative’s coordinating framework. As such B&R has expanded beyond Eurasia to encompass a broader swathe of China’s key trade links.

• The scale of investment to date has been vast: we have tracked more than $750 billion in financing across 1,100 projects linked to the B&R. While the transport, logistics and energy sector comprise 80% of this, recently announced plans suggest a broadening of scope to encompass a broader range of activities.    

• The B&R programme is estimated to ultimately require up to $8 trillion in investment spending but so far, less than 10 percent of funding has come from outside China. However, recent developments have hinted at increased interest from private sector banks and overseas governments.

• There is no clear answer to exactly how many countries are involved in the B&R. But we have assessed 87 B&R partner countries to understand how they can benefit from investment opportunities. Our objective methodology assesses each country against its need for infrastructure investment, ability to supply finance and construction expertise, economic importance to China and its connectivity.

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