COFDI

China’s interest in the Caribbean has increased considerably over the past decade. Most Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) has been directed to those countries with natural resources or geo-strategic port locations—e.g., the Bahamas, Guyana, Suriname, and Jamaica. However, Chinese FDI has been active in other Caribbean countries as well, including Grenada, where it jumped from USD $4 million in 2006 to $14.5 million in 2013.

Not so long ago, the story of the day was about China’s inexorable path to buying up the world, with more than USD $200 billion of acquisitions in 2016 alone. Lately, however, those once focused about China’s global takeover have been dashing to explain the Chinese outward cash flow crash. The crash has involved an almost 43 percent drop in COFDI over the first six months of 2017 year-over-year (YOY).

China is the number one producer of and investor in renewable energy globally. Illustrating this, it has over 500 solar panel manufacturing companies, including the world’s top three solar panel producers. Its capabilities have allowed it to take a leading role in renewable energy investment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The latter’s interest in renewables seems surprising given that MENA countries are primarily known for their massive oil and gas reserves and reliance on fossil fuel as a major source of domestic energy and export earnings.

Over the past year or so, China’s foreign exchange reserves have been “plummeting,” falling several hundred billion (US) dollars as a result of Chinese investors pouring massive sums of money into foreign assets such as real estate and overseas stock markets and Chinese companies undertaking record levels of outward foreign direct investment (OF