World Bank to phase out lending to China after decades and $69 billion in loans

The World Bank is set to stop providing loans to China, closing a chapter that spans more than 450 projects and over $69 billion in cumulative lending.

China achieved eligibility for “graduation” from the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, known as the IBRD, years ago. The country’s access to concessional lending through the International Development Association, the World Bank’s softest loan window, was already terminated after fiscal year 1999.

Average annual borrowing from the IBRD during 2022-2024 sat at roughly $930 million, representing around 0.006% of China’s Gross National Income.

Despite borrowing a relatively tiny amount, China accounts for approximately 45% of the Gross National Income among IBRD-eligible countries. China’s recent IBRD borrowing, at around 2.5% of total IBRD loans, was already a fraction of what it once was.

By mid-2025, analyses suggest China is on the verge of reaching full graduation status from IBRD lending, with borrowing volumes already minimal enough that the formal phase-out is more of a bureaucratic formality than a financial earthquake.

In March 2023, US senators introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at ending multilateral development bank lending to China entirely. The bill reflected a growing consensus in Congress that American taxpayer dollars, which fund a significant share of the World Bank’s capital, shouldn’t be recycled into loans for a geopolitical competitor.

China has been building parallel institutions and bilateral lending programs for over a decade, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which it founded in 2015 partly as an alternative to Western-dominated multilateral lenders.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.