The FT found out which country received the most investment under the One Belt, Road Initiative.

CHINA is expanding its investment activities and presence in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, launched in 2013. Kazakhstan became the leader in Chinese investment in 2025 , receiving $23 billion .

The value of new investment and construction contracts by Chinese companies under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has reached a record high, the Financial Times (FT) reports, citing a study by Australia's Griffith University and China's Green Finance & Development Center. China's total investment in BRI countries reached $124 billion across 176 deals in the first six months of 2025.

The sharp increase in figures in the first half of the year brought the total value of Belt and Road-related deals and investments to over $1.3 trillion, including $775 billion in construction contracts and $533 billion in non-financial investments. The study's authors note that 2025 also stands out for the scale of the deals concluded, with some exceeding $10 billion.

Kazakhstan led all countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, receiving $23 billion. Record investments were made in wind energy, solar energy, and waste recycling, with $10 billion, as well as in metallurgy, coal, and mining, with $25 billion.

"China's strong surge in activity this year is surprising even against the backdrop of steadily increasing activity under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the wake of covid-19," Christophe Wang, one of the study's authors, told the FT.

According to the expert, slowing domestic market growth and the need to diversify supplies due to the trade war triggered by US President Donald Trump's tariffs have prompted Chinese companies to look abroad. At the same time, countries participating in the China-China Initiative (CBI) saw "an opportunity to deepen ties with China amid changing global geoeconomic dynamics."

Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the "One Belt, One Road" concept in September 2013. The project aims to create new trade routes, transport, and economic corridors linking China with countries in Central Asia, Europe, and Africa. According to the IMF , Chinese overseas assets grew by more than 50% between 2018 and 2023, compared to just 21% in the US, the FT notes.

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