We were pleased to host Mr. Zhongxia Jin, Executive Director for China at the IMF, Anna Gelpern, Anne Fleming Research Professor at Georgetown Law and nonresident senior fellow at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, and Deborah Zandstra, Partner in the Capital Markets Group at Clifford Chance at our IIF Sovereign Debt Webinar. Professor Gelpern is the co-author of How China Lends: A Rare Look into 100 Debt Contracts with Foreign Governments, which is the first systematic analysis of the legal terms of China’s foreign lending. China is the world’s largest official creditor, yet few contracts between Chinese lenders and their government borrowers have ever been published or studied.
Following introductory remarks from IIF Executive Vice President Clay Lowery, attendees heard a short overview from IIF Financial Economist Paul Della Guardia on the changing creditor base for low-income countries, focusing on the growing role of China as a key official bilateral creditor. Professor Gelpern then presented the findings of the report. Ms. Zandstra provided brief perspectives on Chinese lending in the context of the DSSI and the Common Framework, and how confidentiality and other provisions of Chinese lending may affect inter-creditor and debtor-creditor discussions, as well as restructurings. In response, Mr. Jin offered his perspectives on China’s role in lending to developing countries. We then opened for an interactive Q&A session moderated by IIF Managing Director and Head of Sustainable Finance, Sonja Gibbs.