US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asked the World Bank to end its ban on financing upstream oil and gas projects. In a statement on Wednesday, he also pushed for deep-sea mining investments and new procurement policies. He said the IMF should work harder to fix global imbalances caused by non-market policies.
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, opens new tab 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.
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