By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) – The World Bank will phase out its lending to China by 2031 after years of declining loans, reflecting the country’s rise to become the world’s second-largest economy, three sources familiar with the plan said on Tuesday.
The World Bank’s board will review the plan during the week of July 20, although no formal vote is needed, one of the sources said. It was agreed by the World Bank and China as part of its five-year “country partnership framework.”
The change, first reported by the Financial Times, would limit the multilateral development bank’s lending to Beijing to $2 billion between now and 2031, ending it thereafter.
World Bank lending to China has declined steadily, dropping from $2.4 billion a year in 2017 to $750 million in 2025.
The U.S. and other countries have long pushed the World Bank to stop lending to China, given its economic power. China’s continued borrowing from the World Bank was an irritant for the Trump administration in its first term.
The World Bank this month agreed to a similar change for Poland, ending development loans to the country after 2031.
A U.S. Treasury spokesperson called the move “a step in the right direction” and said Washington looked forward to other institutions following suit.
“As the second-largest economy in the world, China should not be receiving handouts from multilateral institutions,” the spokesperson said.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington; additional reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Mexico City, Editing by Franklin Paul and Rod Nickel)
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