Bessent Urges IMF and World Bank to Refocus on Core Missions, Phase Out Lending to Graduation-Eligible Countries
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent issued a statement to the World Bank Development Committee and the IMF International Monetary and Financial Committee during the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, setting out the U.S. position on reform at the two institutions. This year's Annual Meetings are being held in Thailand, and Bessent thanked Thailand for hosting. As G20 President, the statement said, the United States has prioritized promoting strong economic growth, increasing productivity, addressing global imbalances, engaging with the private sector, advancing financial literacy, improving the sovereign debt architecture, and promoting financial sector innovation and regulatory modernization.
On the IMF, the statement welcomed the Fund's progress in getting back to basics, including surveillance of external sector issues, strengthened surveillance of debt vulnerabilities in low-income countries, and stronger program design. It said the refocus must go further on global imbalances, particularly in strengthening the IMF's analysis and engagement on the role that non-market policies and practices and exchange rates play in driving external imbalances, and that the Fund must exercise its voice on the issue. The statement criticized financing provided through the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) as lacking a clear linkage to balance of payments pressures and veering into development-policy lending. It said the United States continues to work to secure congressional approval for the 16th General Review of Quotas, and that any future quota realignment should be based on the recently approved Diriyah Guiding Principles on IMF Quota and Governance Reforms and on a new quota formula.
On the World Bank, the statement credited the Bank with implementing its jobs initiative, removing inefficient and distortionary climate finance targets, beginning to phase out lending to certain advanced client countries, taking steps to better implement its graduation policy, and devising a strategy for a more diversified minerals value chain. It said the Bank must phase out sovereign lending to countries that have long since met the graduation policy criteria, and that the planned phase-outs of lending to China and Poland, though long overdue, represent an important milestone for both countries. The statement also said the International Development Association (IDA) must facilitate graduation so it can focus its resources on the poorest countries, and that the United States supports extending the deadline for low-income countries to subscribe to the shares allocated under the 2018 capital increases.
On energy, the statement called on the Bank to take a technology-neutral approach, including by removing constraints on its support for natural gas, and said the World Bank Group should formally retire its prohibition on financing upstream gas and oil. It reiterated U.S. support for the World Bank and African Development Bank goal of extending energy access to 300 million more people in Africa, welcomed a recently approved IDA project on gas supply in West Africa, and announced that the United States is making an initial contribution to the Nuclear Energy Assistance Trust Fund.
On critical minerals, the statement welcomed the Bank's recently approved Metals and Minerals Implementation Plan, citing the Bank's role in areas including local processing capacity, and said the Bank can play a catalytic role in deep-sea mining. On procurement, the statement criticized procurement policies that reward distortive industrial policies and said the Bank must pursue reforms resulting in greater competition and quality.
On the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the statement called on the IFC to redouble efforts to meet its 2018 capital increase pledge to make 40 percent of new commitments in the poorest and most fragile countries, saying the IFC's rate of progress toward the commitment has fallen unacceptably short.
On budgets, the statement welcomed the flat real administrative budget growth being pursued at both institutions this fiscal year and said both institutions should go further, including by indefinitely freezing — and even reducing — Executive Board budgets and salaries, which it said now have a combined annual cost of over $200 million. It also called on the IMF to divest from the Bretton Woods Recreation Center and the Concordia Hotel.
(Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury)
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 美国财政部长斯科特·贝森特官方肖像，公有领域（美国财政部／Wikimedia Commons）
