Chinese overseas lending / PER
Peru: debt owed to China
In 2021, Peru is estimated to have owed China $9.52bn, equal to 4.2% of its GDP, which ranks it 15 of 126 borrowers in the panel by dollars owed. The estimated stock peaked at $10.44bn in 2020.
The estimated stock, 2000 to 2021
The largest single-year move in the estimated stock is 2014, when it rose by $3.06bn.
Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending. Selection: estimated stock owed to China by Peru, 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 10 loan-level records for Peru as part of its debt-estimate sample, spanning 2003 to 2017. Comparable commitments are available for 10 of those loans and sum to $8.59bn. 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 0 loans, grace period on 0, maturity on 2, any of the three on 2, and all three together on 0. The earlier file also carries 20 additional project rows for Peru outside that sample, so they are not included in this table.
| Year | Project | Commitment, USD | Commitment, source currency | Terms | Creditor | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | China Development Bank provides $365 million to Peru for San Gaban III hydroelectric plant ID: PER_30 · Source: BU Energy | $365m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Development Bank (CDB) State-owned policy bank | Loan Commercial · borrower Private sector |
| 2014 | Chinese consortium provides 5.98 bn USD to Las Bambas copper joint venture ID: PER_29 · Source: US Ex-Im Bank | $5.99bn | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Development Bank (CDB), China Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Bank of China (BOC) Multiple commercial creditors | Loan Commercial · borrower Private sector |
| 2011 | China Development Bank lends $150 million to Peru's Banco de Credito ID: PER_26 · Source: AidData, Inter-American Dialogue | $150m | USD 150,000,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity 5y | China Development Bank (CDB) State-owned policy bank | Loan Commercial · borrower Private sector |
| 2011 | China Development Bank extends loan of 30 million USD to Interbank in Peru ID: PER_25 · Source: AidData | $30m | USD 30,000,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity 5y | China Development Bank (CDB) State-owned policy bank | Loan Commercial · borrower Private sector |
| 2009 | CDB provides 50 mn USD loan to COFIDE for infrastructure and transport projects ID: PER_20 · Source: AidData, Inter-American Dialogue | $50m | n/a | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | China Development Bank (CDB) State-owned policy bank | Loan Commercial · borrower SOE |
| 2008 | China Eximbank provides 2 bn USD loan to develop Toromocho copper project ID: PER_15 · Source: Inter-American Dialogue | $2.00bn | 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 Private sector |
| 2007 | China funds expansion of Arzobispo Loayza National Hospital in Peru ID: PER_13 · Source: AidData | $2.84m | RMB 21,600,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | Unspecified Chinese government agency Unspecified Chinese government agency | Loan loan type n/a · borrower Central government |
| 2006 | China funds construction of intensive care pavilion for Arzobispo Loayza National Hospital in Peru for $1.2m ID: PER_12 · Source: AidData | $1.20m | USD 1,200,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | Unspecified Chinese government agency Unspecified Chinese government agency | Loan loan type n/a · borrower Central government |
| 2004 | China funds construction of friendship center in Peru for $1 million ID: PER_11 · Source: AidData | $1.00m | USD 1,000,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | Unspecified Chinese government agency Unspecified Chinese government agency | Loan loan type n/a · borrower Central government |
| 2003 | China funds urban workers program to alleviate hunger in Peru for $1.2M ID: PER_10 · Source: AidData | $1.20m | USD 1,200,000 | rate n/a | grace n/a | maturity n/a | Unspecified Chinese government agency Unspecified Chinese government agency | 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 Peru 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 Peru reports owing to all creditors
Peru reported $88.98bn of total external debt to all creditors in 2021, of which $43.72bn is public and publicly guaranteed. The China estimate is 10.7% of the reported external total and 0.8% 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 | $9.52bn | $88.98bn | 10.7% |
| Public and publicly guaranteed | $342m | $43.72bn | 0.8% |
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 Peru'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