China’s Belt and Road can speed development, needs transparency: World Bank

The long-delayed report said that the Belt and Road - a string of ports, railways, roads and bridges and other investments connecting China to Europe via central and southern Asia - could lift 32 million people out of moderate poverty conditions if implemented fully.

The World Bank’s new president, David Malpass, skipped China’s second Belt and Road summit in Beijing in April to take his first foreign trip to Africa instead. (Representational Image/Reuters)

China’s massive Belt and Road infrastructure drive could speed up economic development and reduce poverty for dozens of developing countries, the World Bank said on Tuesday in a new report that called for deep policy reforms and more transparency for the initiative. The long-delayed report said that the Belt and Road – a string of ports, railways, roads and bridges and other investments connecting China to Europe via central and southern Asia – could lift 32 million people out of moderate poverty conditions if implemented fully. Still, there are “significant risks,” the World Bank said.