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Pakistan rose to first place in Chinese energy finance

Chinese official loans and grants for energy, commitments in constant 2023 US$, totals for 2000–12 and 2013–23.

Trade and money rewired
  1. 1. Mexico, not China, now sells America the most goods
  2. 2. China's ASEAN trade is now almost double its US trade
  3. 3. Central banks now hold more gold than Treasuries or euros
  4. 4. China now pays the world mostly in yuan
  5. 5. Migrants now send home four times all foreign aid
  6. 6. Tether now holds more US Treasuries than the UAE
  7. 7. Developing countries' interest bill has nearly tripled since 2010
  8. 8. America's duty-free parcels grew almost tenfold in nine years
  9. 9. Poles edge past the Japanese in income per person
  10. 10. In dollars, Nigeria's economy has more than halved since 2014
  11. 11. Argentina's monthly inflation fell from 25.5% to 1.9%
  12. 12. Guyana now produces more per person than America
  13. 13. Mexico's factories now outproduce Britain's and France's
  14. 14. Ukraine received four times the aid of any other country
  15. 15. The UAE sold more goods abroad than France in 2025
  16. 16. Singapore now draws twice as much foreign investment as China
  17. 17. The EU now buys more US gas than Russian gas
  18. 18. Malaysia again sells more to America than to China
  19. 19. 22 governments now owe more than a year's national output
  20. 20. Brazil mines 93% of the world's niobium
  21. 21. More Vietnamese now work in industry than on farms
  22. 22. Money sent home to Guatemala nearly quadrupled in ten years
  23. 23. In purchasing power, Russia's economy is now bigger than Japan's
  24. 24. Indonesia set to use more palm oil than it exports
  25. 25. Factories now make more of Cambodia's economy than China's
  26. 26. China now buys more from Brazil than from Germany
  27. 27. Kazakhstan now sells Russia more than Germany does
  28. 28. China fell to third among America's suppliers in 2025
  29. 29. Colombians abroad now send home more than foreigners invest
  30. 30. 72 countries now pay China more than it lends them
  31. 31. Pakistan rose to first place in Chinese energy finance
  32. 32. America overtook China as Taiwan's biggest export market
  33. 33. Mongolia's coal exports hit a record 90 million tonnes
US$26.0bn

Chinese energy commitments to Pakistan in 2013–23, nearly eight times the US$3.3bn of 2000–12.

#8 to #1

Pakistan's rank among all recipients, 2000–12 vs 2013–23; its share rose from 4% to 11% as Viet Nam and Indonesia slipped to fifth and fourth.

US$2.9bn

Pakistan led again in 2023, ahead of Iraq's US$2.1bn. No country drew more Chinese official energy money in 2013–23.

the numbers & method
Pakistan rose to first place in Chinese energy finance. Source: AidData, China's Global Loans and Grants Dataset (CLG-Global 1.0), 2000–2023.
2000–12 (bn)2013–23 (bn)
Viet Nam8.710.4
Indonesia8.310.8
Portugal5.93.1
Angola5.08.1
Pakistan3.326.0
Australia2.417.5
United Kingdom0.319.1

Claim types Estimate

AidData (Global Research Institute, William & Mary), CLG-Global 1.0, published 18 Nov 2025 (file AidDatas_CLG_Global_Dataset_v1.0.zip on docs.aiddata.org; 33,580 records, commitments 2000–2023), read from the primary file through the progrss data vault. Measure: Adjusted_Amount in constant 2023 US$, records flagged Recommended_for_Aggregates = Yes, OECD sector 230 (energy generation and supply), summed by country of activity and year of commitment. Commitments, not disbursements or debt owed; loans and grants together. Records with no single recipient country (regional or multi-country) are excluded, so world totals are of single-country records only: US$93.4bn in 2000–12 (85 countries) and US$232.6bn in 2013–23 (122 countries). Totals, US$ bn, 2000–12 → 2013–23: Pakistan 3.32 → 26.03; United Kingdom 0.28 → 19.09; Australia 2.41 → 17.47; Indonesia 8.26 → 10.76; Viet Nam 8.68 → 10.43; Angola 5.02 → 8.08; Portugal 5.90 → 3.09. Ranks among all recipients: Pakistan 8th in 2000–12, 1st in 2013–23 (and 1st in 2023 alone, US$2.93bn, ahead of Iraq US$2.05bn); Sudan (4th) and Singapore (5th) in 2000–12 fall out of the top in 2013–23. Pakistan's total includes a 2015 peak of US$10.92bn. Period sums, shares and ranks are progrss calculations. AidData compiles records from many sources; later versions may add 2023 commitments not yet reported. 2013 is used as the split because China's Belt and Road began that year; Pakistan's 2015 commitments (US$10.92bn) are 42% of its 2013–23 total; 2023 single-year totals are the most likely to grow in later versions. Licence: ODC-By 1.0, credit AidData. Brazil, checked as an alternative subject, ranks 10th in 2013–23 (US$7.39bn) and never led on value.

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