Boston University's Global Development Policy Center published in April 2022 a study titled "Chinese Loans to Africa During the COVID-19 Pandemic" by Jyhjong Hwang, Oyintarelado Moses, Lucas Engel, and Sobia Shadbar.
Containing much useful data, the study includes a chart of the value of Chinese loans to Africa from 2000 through 2020. After peaking at about $28 billion in 2016, Chinese financing in Africa subsequently dropped sharply to $8.3 billion in 2019 and only $1.9 billion in 2020. While COVID-19 may have contributed to the low amount in 2020, the decline was well underway before the outbreak of the pandemic.
