China alleged to invest in EU Infrastructure Fund
Reuters recently announced that the Chinese government shall contribute ‘an multi-billion dollar investment’ towards European Union’s investment fund, the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI). According to a draft communiqué presented to Reuters, the exact figure of the investment offer has not yet been confirmed. Furthermore, it has been suggested that China will make the pledge at a Brussels summit in late June 2015. The Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is also expected to participate at the high-level event. Both EU and China representatives have noted that China will predominately seek to back projects within the areas of telecommunication and technology. The EFSI was initiated by the European Commission in late 2014 to offer finance infrastructure programs in sectors such as energy, transport, education, and innovation . However, its introduction was met with criticism from the European press. In November 2014, The Telegraph commented that the investment fund, worth 315 billion euros, “ provide[s] almost no new money of its own and is relying on subprime forms of financial engineering [and] depends on leverage that increases the headline figure by 15 times, leaving EU taxpayers bearing the heaviest risk while private investors are shielded from losses.” As a result, the prospect of a financial injection from China will very likely come as a great relief to European Commission. The news coincides with […]
Dec 14, 2015