China’s funding of development institutions is up sharply, but its power still lags, study shows

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) China, the world s second-largest economy, has boosted funding of multilateral development institutions tenfold since 2010, but its voting power and presence in international bodies still lag its economic weight, a new study released on Thursday said. Beijing s funding for development ​banks reached $3 billion in 2024 while its funding for UN development-related bodies surged by 47%, ‌according to the report by the Center for Global Development. China also sharply increased its funding for multilateral climate finance to $5.25 billion in 2025, but slashed its support for funds like Gavi, a public-private partnership to procure and distribute vaccines in low-income countries, by 32%. This is a big step up from 15 years ago, but it s still a tiny share of China s economy, ‌said Ian ​Mitchell, co-author of the report, noting China s funding decisions had been ⁠quite selective. It hasn t supported much of ⁠the UN voluntarily. It hasn t supp