MANILA — China’s economic growth and increasing clout as a financing source for infrastructure projects is putting a spotlight on its future relationship with multilateral banks. Should banks continue to engage China as a borrower, or start engaging it more as a financial resource?
At the World Bank, that question was the subject of a series of negotiations that reached some middle ground — middle-income countries such as China can continue accessing loans from the bank, but at higher costs. China will also have to increase its percentage share to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the bank’s lending arm for middle-income countries, from 4.68 percent to 6.01 percent. These changes are meant to be finalized at the bank’s annual meetings in October.
But at the Asian Development Bank, President Takehiko Nakao is certain he wants to continue lending to the Asian giant.