The semi-annual gathering of the IMF and the World Bank Group is a bustling business, with high-level multilateral policy negotiations, and a one-on-one meeting between the Finance Ministers eager to conduct broker transactions on project financing, foreign investment homes and debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt in poor economies.
This year, a problem will dominate in climate change, inflation and fiscal support rather than policy coordination over Ukraine’s fight against Russian invasion: tariffs.
More specifically, how to get from (or at least minimize) the pain of huge import taxes from U.S. President Donald Trump since returning to the White House in January.
The focus may be primarily on a new U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is Trump’s tariff deal negotiator, and support for the IMF and the World Bank remains a question mark.
“The trade war will dominate this week, and bilateral negotiations that almost every country is trying to do in some way, shape or form will also dominate,” said Josh Lipsky, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Center for Geo-Economics. “So this becomes a spring meeting, unlike others, dominated by one issue.” “Famous Price Reduction”
Trump’s tariffs have blacked out the IMF’s economic forecast, which will be released on Tuesday, putting more pressure on the debt burden of developing countries.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said last week that growth forecasts for the world economic outlook will include “significant sales but no recession”, largely due to uncertainty in the “exclusion chart” and market volatility caused by tariff turmoil.
Although Georgieva said the world’s real economy continues to work well, she warned that increasingly negative perceptions of trade turmoil and concerns about recession could slow economic activity.
Lipsky said the potential new challenge for policy makers is whether the dollar remains a safe haven asset after Trump’s tariffs triggered a sell-off in the U.S. Treasury’s debt.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank Conference and a side-business gathering of 20 fiscal leaders prove that a forum for coordinating strong policy actions during times of crisis, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
Policy experts say this time, with the Trade Minister’s Trade Minister, the delegation will first raise its own economy.
“These meetings over the past few years have focused on multilateral development bank reforms and to some extent strengthened the focus of sovereign debt building, which will fall on the road,” said Nancy Lee, a former U.S. Treasury official, who was a senior policy fellow at the Washington Center for Global Development.
Continuing tariff talks
Japan is under pressure from Trump to impose 25% of tariffs on automobiles, steel and reciprocity tariffs on other tariffs that could reach 24%, and is particularly keen to quickly reach a U.S. tariff agreement.
As negotiations go further than those in other countries, Trump’s participation is more advanced, and Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato is expected to meet with Bessent to resume negotiations on the landscape of the IMF and World Bank gatherings.
South Korea’s Treasury Secretary Choi Sang-Mok also accepted an invitation to visit this week to discuss trade as U.S. allies relying on exports seek to postpone the implementation of 25% tariffs and work with the U.S. in areas of common interests such as energy and shipbuilding, Seoul’s Treasury said.
However, many participants in the meeting had questions about the Trump administration’s support for the IMF and the World Bank. The tough Republican Policy Manifesto 2025 project has affected many of Trump’s decisions to reshape the administration, calling on the United States to withdraw from institutions.
“I really saw the key role of Minister Best in these meetings and could answer some very basic questions,” Lee said. “First, does the United States think that support for the MDB (Multiplelateral Development Bank) is in its interest?” Lee said.
U.S. fiscal support
World Bank President Ajay Banga said last week that he had constructive discussions with the Trump administration, but he didn’t know if that would fund the $4 billion donation from former U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to the world’s poorest countries last year.
BANGA is also expected to expand the bank’s energy financing hub this week, mainly renewable energy, including nuclear and more natural gas projects, and move toward more climate adaptation projects, which is more consistent with Trump’s priorities.
Bessent last week provided Argentina with a new, $20 billion loan plan from the IMF, heading to Buenos Aires last week to support the country’s economic reforms and said the United States hopes for more such alternatives to reach a “crazy” bilateral loan deal with China.
Three former professional finance officials later represented the United States on the IMF Executive Committee, calling the fund a “US financial agreement.”
Meg Lundsager, Elizabeth Shortino and Mark Sobel said in an article published in The Hill that the IMF provides the major shareholders of the United States with substantial economic impacts, with almost zero costs.
“If the United States takes a step back from the IMF, China will win,” they wrote. “Our influence allows us to shape the IMF’s priorities to get the U.S..”
