LONDON — ICBC Standard Bank Plc (ICBCS), controlled by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Thursday officially launched its flagship Belt and Road Economic Indices, in partnership with Oxford Economics, designed to capture the dynamics as well as broader economic benefits of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The ICBCS Belt and Road Economic Indices have been created to address the lack of an existing standardized framework for comparing the countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, bridging the informational gap for investors. In addition, these indices will offer a unique measure for bilateral connectivity with China as a driver of economic development.

Chairman of ICBC Standard Bank Wang Wenbin said turning the concept of the Belt and Road Initiative into reality would not be an easy task. This requires enhanced policy coordination with practical implementation and ongoing open dialogue on a global scale.

"It is our ambition for the ICBCS Belt and Road Economic Indices to become invaluable tools in supporting client investment and hedging decisions in the countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as providing meaningful thought leadership to policy dialogue," he added.

The two indices include ICBCS Belt and Road Economic Health Index and ICBCS Belt and Road China Connectivity Index.

The former index is a monthly index designed to provide a broad overview of the relative attractiveness across single economies involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. At the high level, overall Economic Health is tracked across the dimensions of Macroeconomic Performance and Risk Outlook.

The latter index is a semi-annual index designed to provide investors, businesses, policymakers and other stakeholders with unique, evidence based metric to track broad-based economic connectivity between China and the economies involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. This is achieved by tracking bilateral activity across the three dimensions of Trade, Capital and People.

ICBC Standard Bank's Chinese and African parentage provides access to an extensive global network, allowing the bank and its clients to capitalize on global business opportunities.