China’s ’17 Belt, Road outlays slowed

China’s financing for so-called overseas Belt and Road Initiative energy projects dropped 28 percent to $14.3 billion last year from $19.9 billion, according to data released Monday by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center.

Spending last year included investments in gas pipelines in Malaysia, coal power plants in the Pakistani desert and an oil terminal in Bangladesh.

China has invested about $128 billion in energy projects in Belt and Road countries since 2001, according to Boston University’s research, which tracks finance data from the country’s two policy banks, the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China. The slowdown in spending last year came as the government cracked down on capital outflows, scrutinizing companies from HNA Group Co. to Anbang Insurance Group Co. that expanded rapidly overseas.

“In late 2016 and early 2017 China suffered a rush of capital outflows due to a mix of premature capital account liberalization and external conditions,” Kevin Gallagher, professor of Global Development Policy at Boston University, said by email. “This led to some fairly tight restriction on capital flows that slowed things down a bit across the board.”

President Xi Jinping announced the Belt and Road Initiative project almost five years ago to rebuild the ancient Silk Road and to extend China’s reach through Europe, Asia and Africa via infrastructure projects. It includes investments in road, railways, ports and energy ventures across more than 60 countries to open new business opportunities for domestic companies.