Supporting poverty alleviation will help the poor contribute to economic growth and make for more sustainable development, he added.

Continual support for private Chinese companies to develop overseas forms another part of the corporation's strategies, according to Andrews.

IFC chief executive officer Jin-Yong Cai wrote in its 2015 annual report, "Much more can be done to tackle the challenges of development, especially in mobilizing the financing that will be needed to achieve the sustainable development goals (raised by the United Nations Development Program)."

In the 2015 financial year, IFC long-term investments in developing countries totaled $17.7 billion, a 17 percent increase year-on-year.

Win the battle, Xi urges

President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to "win the battle against poverty", reiterating the importance of this to maintaining social stability and spurring economic growth.

Efforts to eliminate poverty have entered a "last-minute dash," according to a statement issued after a meeting on Monday of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The meeting was chaired by Xi.

The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), a blueprint for the nation's economic development in the next five years, highlights poverty elimination as one of the key tasks the government must fulfill to achieve the target of attaining "moderate prosperity".

At the end of last year, 70.17 million people in rural areas of China were living below the poverty line of 2,300 yuan ($376) in annual income.

The country's top leaders reached a consensus in 2013 to eliminate poverty "precisely", especially in rural areas.

This calls for a targeted and effective approach to be taken toward poverty relief without waiting for any support measures, including subsidies.