Laos Is Not in a Chinese ‘Debt Trap’ – But It Is in Trouble
April 27th, 2023
Via The Diplomat, a report on Laos, which is disturbingly reliant on investment from China – and no one knows how much, or under what terms: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) turns 10 this year. Much ink has been spilled, digitally and otherwise, about the global infrastructure project. The “debt-trap diplomacy” claims that arose […]
Read more »China Props Up Belt-and-Road Borrowers Via Unusual Channel
December 12th, 2022
Via the Wall Street Journal, a report on the People’s Bank of China use of currency-swap lines to support governments that borrowed heavily from Chinese banks via the BRI program: Hungry for foreign currency to shore up their dwindling reserves, some troubled countries have in recent years turned to an unusual source of funds: The People’s […]
Read more »Thriving on China’s BRI, Laos Border Town Ditches Kip for Yuan
December 7th, 2022
Courtesy of NikkeiAsia, a report on how one Laotian town is thriving due to a BRI-funded railway connection: If you want to eat in the northern Lao town of Boten on the border with China, you better have some yuan on you. Boten is one of the cities that have been so changed by China’s […]
Read more »Are Laos’ New Railways a Solution to its Lack of Trade with the West?
November 2nd, 2022
Courtesy of The Diplomat, commentary on whether Laos’ new railways could help the nation address its lack of trade with the West: When Phankham Viphavanh, the prime minister of Laos, concluded a cabinet meeting last month, there were more questions than answers over what his government was doing to fix the economy. The national currency, the […]
Read more »Laos and New Silk Road: On Track To Dependence on China?
September 20th, 2022
Via Der Spiegel, a report on how Laos’ new high-speed rail connection connecting the capital to China is a boon for many but is it a luxury it can really afford? They are all gathered in front of the railway station. Mothers from the capital with infants in their arms and holding hands with small […]
Read more »Buckle Up: China Won’t let Laos Become A Belt and Road Debt Trap
September 1st, 2022
Courtesy of the Asia Times, commentary on China’s unwillingness to stomach the financial and political ramifications of a Laotian infrastructure loan default: Laos faces unprecedented financial difficulties, including US$14.5 billion worth of public and publicly guaranteed debt – around half of which is owed to China. But unlike Sri Lanka, there is no chance that Laos […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.