Key insights
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent supports IMF quota revamp and urges the World Bank to prioritize critical mineral projects over climate initiatives, aiming to diversify supply chains away from China. This shift reflects a focus on economic growth and security, potentially impacting global trade dynamics and resource allocation. The emphasis on non-climate related projects could slightly dampen enthusiasm in green energy stocks.
By David Lawder
WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday reaffirmed his support for a long-delayed revamp of the International Monetary Fund's quota resources and called on the World Bank to move quickly to support projects to develop critical minerals to diversify supplies away from China.
In a statement to the IMF's steering committee, Bessent also said that he welcomed the July 2026 expiration of the World Bank's Climate Change Action Plan, which sets out its strategy for boosting lending for green energy transition projects.
Bessent said that with the expiration, he expects the development lender "to immediately shift its myopic focus on climate and financing volumes to one that emphasizes high-quality, durable projects" that can better lift people out of poverty.
Bessent, who manages the dominant U.S. shareholding in the World Bank and the IMF, said that the Trump administration expects the bank to do more to develop critical minerals mining and processing, adding that these are "central to economic growth, technological leadership, and countries’ economic security."
"We expect to see all parts of the Bank move quickly to support the policies, projects, and associated infrastructure needed to unlock more deals that will help diversify critical minerals supply chains and increase domestic value capture across the supply chain," Bessent said in the statement to the International Monetary and Financial Committee.
China supplies over 90% of rare earths and some other critical minerals, a domination of the market that has given Beijing leverage over the U.S., Japan and some other countries on trade matters.
Bessent said that the U.S. was committed to a "strong, quota-based, and adequately resourced IMF that plays a critical role in the Global Financial Safety Net," echoing prior statements from the U.S. Treasury.
He said this includes a commitment to securing approval by the U.S. Congress for the IMF's 16th review of quotas, which was agreed in 2023 but has not been implemented.
A U.S. fiscal 2026 appropriations bill covering U.S. Treasury programs that passed in early March failed to include the quota increase. But the quota approval request did reappear deep within an appendix of President Donald Trump's budget request for fiscal 2027 starting on October 1, which is dominated by a proposed massive defense spending increase.
The change would not involve a budgetary outlay from Congress, as it would largely transfer U.S. funds from a separate crisis lending facility known as the New Arrangements to Borrow to the IMF quota resources, making the IMF's roughly $1 trillion in lending firepower more readily available in a crisis.
But the 2023 quota deal did include a pledge to come up with a new quota formula for future shareholding changes aimed at giving more voting power to large emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil.
"The case for future quota reviews must be firmly established on the basis of resource adequacy needs," Bessent said in his statement. "IMF shareholding should reflect members' relative position in the world economy, and any future quota realignment must be underpinned by a new quota formula."
The statement did not provide details on what the new quota formula should include.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Andrea Ricci )