Chinese overseas lending / BOL
Bolivia: debt owed to China
In 2021, Bolivia is estimated to have owed China $1.32bn, equal to 3.3% of its GDP, which ranks it 55 of 126 borrowers in the panel by dollars owed. The estimated stock peaked at $1.32bn in 2021.
The estimated stock, 2000 to 2021
The largest single-year move in the estimated stock is 2019, when it rose by $229m.
Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending. Selection: estimated stock owed to China by Bolivia, by year and instrument, 2000 to 2021. Zeros are estimated zeros (no known loans outstanding), not missing values. Methodology
Historical loan records from the 2021 release
These records come from the 2021 HRT Mendeley replication release, not the November 2025 refreshed stock panel charted above. The refresh uses the updated Franz, Horn, Parks, Reinhart and Trebesch methodology, so this table cannot be reconciled to the chart. The earlier release marks 12 loan-level records for Bolivia as part of its debt-estimate sample, spanning 2008 to 2016. Comparable commitments are available for 12 of those loans and sum to $2.58bn. These are gross commitments, not outstanding debt stocks. The stock methodology applies disbursement and amortisation profiles, with imputation where loan terms are missing, so the commitment sum must not be compared with the stock above. See the methodology. Terms are sparse by source: interest rate appears on 1 loans, grace period on 0, maturity on 3, any of the three on 3, and all three together on 0. The earlier file also carries 23 additional project rows for Bolivia outside that sample, so they are not included in this table.
| Year | Project | Commitment, USD | Commitment, source currency | Terms | Creditor | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Citizen security project ID: BOL_35 · Source: Inter-American Dialogue | $50m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan loan type n/a · borrower Central government |
| 2015 | El Sillar Road ID: BOL_33 · Source: Inter-American Dialogue | $426m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan loan type n/a · borrower Central government |
| 2015 | Highway construction ID: BOL_34 · Source: Inter-American Dialogue | $253m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan loan type n/a · borrower Central government |
| 2014 | China Exim Bank provides $600 million in loan finance to Bolivia for construction of the Rurrenabaque-Riberalta Highway ID: BOL_30 · Source: AidData, Inter-American Dialogue | $600m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central government |
| 2014 | China Offers to Lend $396 Million USD to Bolivia for El Mutun Iron Ore Deposit ID: BOL_31 · Source: AidData, Inter-American Dialogue | $396m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central government |
| 2012 | China Eximbank provides 100 mn USD for purchase of 2000 Chinese buses ID: BOL_26 · Source: Inter-American Dialogue | $100m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity 20y | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Central government |
| 2012 | China gives 23.8 MM USD Loan to Purchase Turbines for Bolivia's First Wind Farm ID: BOL_27 · Source: AidData | $24m | USD 23,800,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity 20y | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower Local government |
| 2011 | Helicopters, infrastructure ID: BOL_24 · Source: AidData, Inter-American Dialogue | $300m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Development Bank (CDB) State-owned policy bank | Loan Commercial · borrower Central government |
| 2011 | China's Exim Bank loans Bolivia 60 million USD for oil drilling ID: BOL_22 · Source: AidData | $64m | RMB 411,000,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan loan type n/a · borrower SOE |
| 2009 | China Will Loan $251 Million USD for Building and Launching Bolivian Satellite ID: BOL_15 · Source: AidData, BU Energy | $251m | USD 251,000,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Development Bank (CDB) State-owned policy bank | Loan Commercial · borrower Central government |
| 2009 | China loans Bolivia $60 Million USD for Energy Investments ID: BOL_19 · Source: AidData, Inter-American Dialogue | $60m | USD 60,000,000 | rate 2% | grace n/a | maturity 20y | China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) State-owned policy bank | Loan Concessional · borrower SOE |
| 2008 | China Funds $60 Million USD to Bolivia's National Mine Geology and Technical Service (Sergeotecmin) ID: BOL_12 · Source: AidData | $60m | USD 60,000,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | Department of Exploration and Development of Geological Resources and Minerals of China (Depgeomin) Chinese government | Loan loan type n/a · borrower Central government |
Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending (2021 Mendeley replication loan file). Selection: 2021 replication loan records mapped to Bolivia and flagged DebtEstimateSample = 1 in that release. This is an earlier source universe, not the records used for the November 2025 refreshed stock panel. CommitmentUSD is a gross commitment flow and is not comparable to the charted stock. Commitment stays in its source currency, and ProjectDescription is rendered as free-text data from the file. Methodology
Against what Bolivia reports owing to all creditors
Bolivia reported $16.03bn of total external debt to all creditors in 2021, of which $12.77bn is public and publicly guaranteed. The China estimate is 8.2% of the reported external total and 10.3% of the reported public and guaranteed stock. These are ratios of two different measurements, one estimated and one borrower-reported, and they are not a share of a single consistent total.
| Measure, 2021 | Estimated, owed China | Reported, all creditors | Ratio, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total external debt | $1.32bn | $16.03bn | 8.2% |
| Public and publicly guaranteed | $1.32bn | $12.77bn | 10.3% |
Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending (estimated stocks), and World Bank International Debt Statistics, borrower-reported via the Debtor Reporting System (all-creditor stocks). Selection: estimated external and PPG stock owed to China in 2021 against Bolivia's reported DT.DOD.DECT.CD and DT.DOD.DPPG.CD for the same year. Drawn swap balances are excluded from the estimated column: they are a central-bank liability the Debtor Reporting System's long-term-debt concepts do not carry. Methodology