BRI to generate $1.6tn in annual revenue by 2030...China’s loan demands curbing recipient finance management ability...China opens first offshore gold vault

BRI to generate $1.6tn in annual revenue by 2030

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s ambitious overseas infrastructure development program, is expected to generate $1.6 trillion in annual revenue by 2030, a Chinese official said at the Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin on Tuesday, reports Caixin. Zhou Haibing, a vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, said that the BRI has bolstered the social and economic development of its member states by building economic corridors and enhancing connectivity, with the construction of highways, railways, airports and seaports.

Zhou cited the China-Laos Railway as an example: the link has transported more than 60 million tons of goods since it opened in December 2021. Another flagship project developed under the BRI is the China-Europe Railway Express, which connects China with 229 cities across 26 European countries.

The initiative has been a catalyst for global economic growth by promoting the liberalization of trade and investments, Zhou said. It has also helped improve livelihoods in the participating states, with projects related to job creation and poverty relief, he added.

China’s loan demands curbing recipient finance management ability

China's practice of securing its loans to low-income nations through commodity revenue streams and cash held in restricted escrow accounts is curbing their ability to manage their finances effectively, a study published on Thursday showed, reports Reuters. China has lent hundreds of billions of dollars for infrastructure and projects in developing countries, but has been criticised for using earnings of commodity exports from borrower nations as security for the loans, sometimes arranged during times of economic strife for the borrower.

China's government has repeatedly denied that its lending practices towards poorer countries are unscrupulous.

China's total public and publicly guaranteed lending to low and middle-income countries totals $911 billion, said the report by AidData, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and Georgetown University, together with other partners. Of that, nearly half—or $418 billion across 57 countries—is secured with cash deposits in Chinese bank accounts, it said.

China opens first offshore gold vault

The Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) has opened its first offshore physical gold delivery vault in Hong Kong, in a strategic move to broaden international participation and amplify China’s expanding role in the global bullion trade, reports Caixin. Operated by Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd., the facility represents a significant move toward integrating China’s gold market with the international financial system. By offering physical settlement in a globally connected financial center, the exchange aims to increase the appeal of its yuan-denominated contracts and bolster cross-border liquidity.

Coinciding with the launch, the exchange unveiled two new yuan-denominated gold contracts that can be physically delivered in Hong Kong. To entice traders, the exchange is waiving all storage, deposit and withdrawal fees at the Hong Kong vault through the end of the year.

The initiative addresses long-standing logistical and regulatory bottlenecks that have limited foreign investor participation. Until now, international investors trading on the SGE’s International Board—established in 2014—could only take physical delivery at three designated mainland vaults located in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

China plug-in hybrid exports spike

Chinese plug-in hybrid electric cars are rapidly flooding the European market, with exports to the bloc rising an extraordinary 600% year on year in May as China’s brands take advantage of an exemption in European Union tariffs, reports the South China Morning Post. The trend is part of a wider boom in sales of Chinese passenger plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), with China’s overall exports of the cars soaring 127% year on year in May, according to data released on Monday by the China Automobile Dealers Association (CADA).

The country’s exports of passenger plug-in hybrids—cars with fewer than nine seats that are equipped with both a rechargeable battery and a traditional combustion engine—were up nearly 140% over the first five months of 2025 as total shipments reached 324,000 units.

Much of this growth is being driven by a spike in sales in a few key markets—especially Europe. China’s passenger PHEV exports to the EU skyrocketed about 600% year on year in both volume and value terms in May, according to Chinese customs data.

FWD Group looking to raise $442mn in HK IPO

Billionaire Richard Li’s FWD Group Holdings Ltd. is seeking to raise HK$3.5 billion ($442 million) in a Hong Kong initial public offering, seizing on a hot market to finally launch a share sale initially planned four years ago, reports Bloomberg. FWD is selling 91.3 million shares at HK$38 each in the IPO, according to a stock exchange filing Thursday. The shares are scheduled to start trading July 7.

For Li, son of famed businessman Li Ka-shing, the journey to take FWD public has been filled with twists and turns. The pan-Asian insurer dropped an earlier plan for an IPO of as much as $3 billion in the US in 2021 due to regulatory unease over the reach of the Chinese government. That was in the wake of the post-IPO probe of Didi Global Inc, which kicked off Beijing’s wide-ranging crackdown on firms listing overseas.

FWD then pivoted to Hong Kong, filing for an IPO several times but never launching as market conditions remained unfavorable amid a broader downturn in the city’s listings market.

Profit or loss

A Chinese official has said this week that the country’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is expected to generate $1.6 trillion in annual revenue by 2030. Zhou Haibing, a vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that the BRI has bolstered the social and economic development of its member states by building economic corridors and enhancing connectivity, with the construction of highways, railways, airports and seaports.

According to a new study by AidData, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and Georgetown University, China’s practice of securing its loans to low-income nations through commodity revenue streams and cash held in restricted escrow is curbing the ability of these countries to manage their finances effectively. Currently, China's total public and publicly guaranteed lending to low and middle-income countries totals $911 billion.

Perhaps both of these things could be true at the same time, but it does at least raise the question of who is generating the revenue and where that revenue is going. Chinese firms will no doubt be playing a key role in developing or maintaining much of the new infrastructure and many companies selling goods and services have now been able to enter BRI markets thanks to better logistics capacity—and both will be making money.

Many of the BRI recipient countries now have huge debts due to China, and there are questions about how this will be handled. Will they be written off? Will they have to dig themselves out of it? As of 2023, the total BRI outlay by China was around $1 trillion, and it is still owed around the same amount today, but that doesn’t take into account the benefits China has received as a result of those loans, both financial and political.