US 'opposes World Bank plan to lend to China'
The Donald Trump administration opposes the World Bank’s latest plan for low-interest loans to China, which has received more than $1 billion a year from the lender, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
Mnuchin told the House Financial Services Committee that China should be removed from the World Bank’s loan program.
The World Bank is expected to soon release its latest Country Partnership Framework document for China, which lays out its lending plans to the world’s second-largest economy.
World Bank lending to China declined to $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2019 from $2.4 billion in fiscal 2017.
Several lawmakers voiced concerns about what they described as unannounced World Bank plans to continue lending to the country despite rapid growth in its per capita income.
"China is now the world’s second largest economy and its per capita income is well above the level at which countries are supposed to ‘graduate’ from needing World Bank assistance," said Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley said.
