HM Treasury published the UK Governors’ statement delivered by Development Minister Baroness Chapman and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves to the World Bank Group (WBG) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Development Committee, setting out UK priorities for multilateral action amid heightened global instability. The statement links the Iran and Middle East conflict to spillovers through energy markets, food security, displacement and financial stability, and presses for a multilateral system that can respond faster, at greater scale and with clearer accountability. For the WBG, the UK calls for earlier and more ambitious use of crisis tools, expansion of prearranged crisis finance and insurance, rollout of contingent debt agreements, and continual review of pricing and barriers to uptake. It urges the Bank to update its crisis toolkit for future pandemics by finalising the Day Zero Financing Framework and securing Board approval ahead of the Annual Meetings in Bangkok. On development finance, the UK reiterates commitment to the International Development Association’s 21st replenishment (IDA21), backs reforms to mobilise private capital through deeper integration across IBRD, IDA, IFC and MIGA and wider use of guarantees, and welcomes the WBG’s new Guarantee Platform. The statement also supports strengthening the global debt architecture, including a faster and more predictable G20 Common Framework and wider use of resilience-enhancing contractual tools such as pause clauses, and calls for MDB capital adequacy reform and a more harmonised approach across institutions. On climate, it supports extending the WBG Climate Change Action Plan, retaining Paris alignment and the 45 percent climate finance target, and reiterates the MDB pledge for USD 120 billion in climate finance by 2030 and USD 65 billion in private mobilisation. On the IMF, the UK welcomes the new IMF, International Energy Agency and WBG coordination group on the Middle East conflict, calls for an ambitious Comprehensive Surveillance Review with stronger macro-financial coverage, and welcomes the forthcoming Review of Program Design and Conditionality. Next steps highlighted include a Global Partnerships Conference in London in May, an Illicit Finance Summit in London in summer 2026, and the request for WBG Board action on the Day Zero Financing Framework ahead of the Annual Meetings in Bangkok.
HM Treasury 2026-04-21
HM Treasury publishes UK Governors’ statement calling for faster World Bank crisis tools and stronger IMF surveillance
HM Treasury published the UK Governor’s statement to the World Bank Group and IMF Development Committee, setting out UK priorities for faster, larger-scale and more accountable multilateral responses to global instability, including spillovers from the Iran–Middle East conflict. The UK calls for enhanced World Bank crisis tools and prearranged finance, support for IDA21 and private capital mobilisation, stronger global debt architecture and MDB capital adequacy reform, and sustained climate finance. It also backs strengthened IMF surveillance and program design, welcomes new IMF–IEA–World Bank coordination on the Middle East, and flags upcoming UK-hosted events on global partnerships and illicit finance.