Bessent calls for World Bank reforms, including upstream oil and gas financing

BANGKOK, Oct 15 (Reuters) – US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a long list of demands for the World Bank in line with Trump administration interests, including ending ​the bank’s prohibition on financing upstream oil and gas projects, putting ‌resources into deep-sea critical minerals mining and reforming its procurement policies.

Bessent, in a statement issued late on Wednesday, to the steering committees of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, also ​said that the IMF should do more to push back on ​countries’ non-market policies that lead to global imbalances, a veiled reference ⁠to US criticism of China.Here are key highlights of the US statement:

• Bessent said ​the World Bank should take a technology-neutral approach to energy and remove constraints ​on natural gas and oil projects. “The Bank cannot credibly invoke country ownership while categorically excluding upstream projects before their development merits are even assessed”
• The US Treasury said it is making ​an initial contribution to a new World Bank-administered Nuclear Energy Assistance Trust Fund ​to help countries lay the groundwork for future nuclear power investments
• The Treasury said the World ‌Bank ⁠has an important role to play in developing critical minerals mining and processing capacity. “This includes deep-sea mining, where the Bank can play a catalytic role by providing knowledge and guidance in a nascent sector,” the Treasury said
• Bessent called for faster ​graduation of wealthier ​countries such as ⁠China and Poland from World Bank borrowing. He said the bank’s project procurement policies should be reformed to not encourage ​subsidies, or reward distortive industrial policies, adding that it ​should “pursue procurement ⁠reforms that result in greater competition and quality”
• The Treasury said that the IMF must go further in boosting its analysis of global imbalances, including the impact of non-market ⁠policies ​and practices and exchange rates. “The IMF was founded ​to prevent these kinds of distortive policies and negative spillovers, and must exercise its voice on ​this critical issue or risk being sidelined”

Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by John Mair