Saudi Arabia was the single largest recipient of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investments, with about $5.5 billion in investments.

However, many countries, including Egypt saw BRI investments fall to zero in the period compared to the year-ago period, according to a report by the Green Finance & Development Center at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Oil and gas investments constituted about 80% of Chinese overseas energy investments and 66% of Chinese construction contracts.

The main recipient of gas investments was Saudi Arabia (about $4.6 billion), followed by Iraq.

With the strong engagement in these two countries, Iraq remained the third most important partner in the BRI for energy engagement between 2013 and 2022, while Saudi Arabia moved up to the fourth place.

China’s engagement in green energy (solar and wind) and hydropower amounted to about $3 billion in H1 2022. This compares to $3.8 billion engagement in H1 2021 and $6.5 billion in H1 2018.

Saudi Arabia also saw cooperation on solar projects, such as a $210 million project with Jinko Solar.

(Writing by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)
(brinda.darasha@lseg.com)