• The US Treasury says the IMF, WB stepped down from their core tasks.
• Calls on the IMF to be harder with countries that resist reforms.
• Says both institutions need reforms to regain US confidence.

Washington: The United States has criticized the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and said they have lost their main targets – increased economic growth.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday called on both institutions to stop focusing on social issues and return to supporting global economic stability and growth and emphasizing that the IMF and WB “must be done to the purpose of the purpose again”.

When he spoke on the sidelines for organizations’ spring meetings in Washington, Bessent said the IMF sets “disproportionate time” to climate change, gender and other social issues.

“The Trump administration is eager to work with them-as long as they can stay true to their missions,” Bessent said, adding that the IMF should concentrate on global monetary cooperation and economic stability.

The World Bank, he said, should focus on core functions such as helping developing countries grow their economies, lower poverty and increasing private investment.

Bessent’s comments come in the midst of concern that Washington may have withdrawn from the fund and the bank.

In a briefing with journalists after his speech on Wednesday, Bessent said he has had meetings with IMF chef Kristalina Georgieva and the World Bank President Ajay Banga and that his remarks Wednesday was “not a surprise to them.”

“I think they are good leaders and I hope they will earn administration’s confidence in the coming months through their actions,” Bessent added.

While the IMF and the World Bank serve critical roles in the global economy, “under the status quo, they fall short,” Bessent said in his speech.

He added that they “have to go back from their scattered and unfocused agendas.”

Bessent called on the IMF to be tougher with borrowers and said that the fund “is not obliged to borrow to countries that do not implement reforms.”

“Financial stability and growth should be the markers of the IMF’s success – not how much money the institution lends,” he said.

A IMF spokesman told journalists that the fund is looking forward to promoting commitment with the US government.

On the World Bank, Bessent said the group should also “no longer expect blank controls for VAPID, buzzword-centered marketing accompanied by half-hearted obligations to reform.”

He noted that the bank could use resources more effectively by helping new countries increase access to energy and say that they should focus on “reliable technologies” rather than seeking “distortion of climate financing.”

This could mean investing in gas and other fossil fuel -based energy production, he said. He also paid tribute to the bank’s recent efforts to remove restrictions on support for atomic energy.

He also called for “graduation time lines” and called it “absurd” for China to still be considered a developing country.

Bessent said he wasn’t worried that the IMF was jumping its American growth prospects.

He expects greater clarity on duty around the third quarter of the year, and said that the effects of deregulation should also begin to kick in at the same time.