The economic tension between Washington and Beijing is soaring. The White House has currently refused to back up a World Bank loan program for China – a loan that is worth $1 billion per year.
The funding plan which is for five years was discussed on December 5th, 2019. The program is known as the Country Partnership Framework, as reported by Financial Times. The Framework is created to help Beijing in funding green investments, promote early childhood development programs, bolster healthcare initiatives and encourage reforms towards market expansion
However, as we all know the trade war between the US and China has increased the tension between the two global economic powers. The program of the World Bank lasts from 2020 to 2025. The objections of the US towards the distribution of the loan have put a rift between the US Treasury Head Mr. Mnuchin and the World Bank president, David Malpass.
The major argument is that since the US is the largest contributor towards the World Bank, many Americans would actually wonder why their tax dollars are being reverted to fund low-interest rate loans in China, as reported by the Financial Times.
The overall consensus seems to be that there will be stricter evaluation of funding towards China. For now, it is clear that the US has not eliminated the funding of World Bank to China, but has agreed to a reduction.