The U.S. Department of the Treasury set out U.S. priorities for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank ahead of the Spring Meetings, calling for both institutions to narrow their agendas to core mandates, strengthen accountability, and operate with restrained budgets. The statement argues that these changes should underpin a more disciplined approach to IMF surveillance and lending and a World Bank development model focused on poverty reduction and growth rather than climate-finance targets. For the IMF, the Treasury calls for reversing “mission creep” and refocusing surveillance on external sector issues, imbalances, and cross-border spillovers, including deeper, more policy-relevant analysis and greater use of scenario-based analysis. It also presses for disciplined lending built on meaningful conditionality, credible macroeconomic projections, and rigorous debt sustainability analysis, with reforms and structural benchmarks that strengthen borrower accountability, alongside efforts to improve debt data and debt management capacity and restore momentum under the Common Framework. The U.S. reiterates support for a strong, quota-based IMF and states it remains committed to securing congressional approval for the 16th General Review of Quotas, while arguing that any future quota realignment should be underpinned by a new quota formula. For the World Bank, the Treasury urges a focus on country self-reliance, including stronger implementation of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development graduation policy to redirect resources toward poorer and less creditworthy countries, and calls on the International Finance Corporation to redouble efforts to meet its 2018 pledge to make 40% of new commitments in the poorest and most fragile countries. It also pushes for an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy financing, including removing constraints on support for natural gas and increasing gas projects, and welcomes the prior removal of the prohibition on financing nuclear power generation and related multilateral development bank coordination. Additional priorities include rapid implementation of the Bank’s critical minerals strategy, more competition and quality in procurement with greater scrutiny of state-owned enterprises, and abandoning the World Bank Group’s 45% climate finance target as the Climate Change Action Plan expires.
U.S. Department of the Treasury 2026-04-15
U.S. Department of the Treasury urges IMF and World Bank to refocus on core mandates and drop the World Bank’s 45% climate finance target
The U.S. Treasury outlined priorities for the IMF and World Bank ahead of the Spring Meetings, urging both to narrow agendas to core mandates, strengthen accountability, and restrain budgets. For the IMF, Treasury calls for reversing “mission creep,” sharpening surveillance on external imbalances and spillovers, tightening conditionality and debt sustainability analysis, improving debt data and management, and advancing a quota-based 16th General Review of Quotas under a new formula. For the World Bank, it urges stronger focus on poverty reduction and country self-reliance, stricter graduation of better-off borrowers, greater IFC commitments to the poorest and most fragile countries, an “all-of-the-above” energy financing approach including gas and nuclear, rapid implementation of the critical minerals strategy, more competitive procurement, and dropping the 45% climate finance target.