WASHINGTON DC, Apr 9 2021 (IPS) - Is Chinese financing good for developing countries? This has become a provocative question, freighted with ideology, geopolitics, and commercial rivalries. That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth trying to answer factually and empirically. Yet, taking stock of China’s lending activities has long been hindered by the lack of publicly available data on dimensions like loan volumes and interest rates, let alone more esoteric features like loan collateral or default contingencies. The past year brought new worries about debt vulnerabilities exacerbated by the COVID crisis. This renewed attention in forums like the G20 and G7 has also brought some progress when it comes to publicly available information on basic lending data, with significant new data releases covering China and other major creditors by the World Bank.