One of China’s leading state-run banks on Thursday signed a USD 1.6 billion deal with a British bank to facilitate projects under the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of President Xi Jinping.China Development Bank (CDB) and Standard Chartered Bank signed the memorandum of understanding as British Prime Minister Theresa May is on a three-day visit to China, which started Wednesday. Under the deal, CDB will make available up to 10 billion yuan (about USD 1.6 billion) in the next five years to Standard Chartered to facilitate Belt and Road projects, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Standard Chartered will use this to support loans to fund corporate finance projects and trade finance transactions along the Belt and Road.CDB is China’s largest development bank. Last year, it set up a special lending scheme worth 250 billion yuan (about USD 40 billion) to support Belt and Road cooperation on infrastructure, industrial capacity and financing.
With a presence in 45 markets along the Belt and Road, Standard Chartered Bank announced in December a plan to spend at least USD 20 billion to finance projects under the Belt and Road Initiative by late 2020. The BRI, proposed by China in 2013, aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa based on ancient land and maritime trade routes.
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