The Belt and Road Initiative: Challenges and Opportunities Amid COVID-19

Heading into 2020, there were nearly 3,000 active Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects, involving more than 2,600 companies, with a combined value of close to USD4 trillion.

Although this represents significant progress for the BRI, in the seven years since the project launched, it has arguably never faced a more challenging risk environment. Managing political, economic, and investment risks has become more difficult by COVID-19.

In this white paper, we outline the opportunities and challenges facing investors in the BRI, and provide updates on recent developments in the following countries:

• Malaysia
• Bangladesh
• Philippines
• Indonesia
• Myanmar

In addition, we rank the contractual agreement repudiation risk given the impact of COVID-19 for the BRI countries on our proprietary risk map.