Reuters · October 15, 2026

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Issues Demands for World Bank and IMF Changes in a Statement to Their Steering Committees

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a statement issued late on Wednesday to the steering committees of the World Bank and the IMF, called for ending the World Bank's prohibition on financing upstream oil and gas projects, according to the report.
• The statement also called for World Bank resources for deep-sea critical minerals mining, reform of the bank's procurement policies, and faster graduation of wealthier countries such as China and Poland from World Bank borrowing, according to the report.
• The U.S. Treasury said it is making an initial contribution to a new World Bank-administered Nuclear Energy Assistance Trust Fund, according to the report.

Demands attributed to Scott Bessent and the U.S. Treasury as reported. No response from the World Bank or the IMF is documented in the source. Original headline: "Bessent calls for World Bank reforms, including upstream oil and gas financing".