Bessent accuses IMF and World Bank of ‘mission creep’

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US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has accused the IMF and World Bank of “mission creep”, calling for them to step back from “their sprawling and unfocused agendas” on climate change and gender issues. 

“The IMF and World Bank have enduring value. But mission creep has knocked these institutions off course,” Bessent said in Washington on Wednesday in remarks that stopped short of saying the US could pull out altogether but made clear the administration’s frustrations with the IMF in particular. 

The remarks come as finance ministers gather in Washington for the IMF and World Bank’s spring meetings, amid tensions over the US’s role in the so-called Bretton Woods institutions.

The conservative Project 2025 agenda advocates the US — the biggest shareholder in both institutions — quit both the IMF and the World Bank.

Bessent insisted the institutions had “enduring value”, signalling Washington will remain involved. But he hit out at recent changes at the fund in particular, saying that the US and other countries “must make the IMF the IMF again”.

He said issues such as climate, gender and social topics, which have been a focus under the leadership of current managing director Kristalina Georgieva, were “not the IMF’s mission”. 

Bessent also signalled that the fund was becoming too close to Beijing, and said a key report published last year drew “Pollyanna-ish” conclusions on imbalances in the global economy, where Washington believes China is the prime culprit. 

“We are open to critique,” he said. “But we will not abide the IMF failing to critique the countries that need it most — principally surplus countries like China that have pursued globally distortive policies and opaque currency practices for many decades.” 

He also accused the World Bank of straying away “from certain respects of its initial mission”. 

“The bank should no longer expect blank cheques for vapid, buzzword-centric marketing accompanied by half-hearted commitments to reform,” Bessent said. 

He also called on the bank to be “tech-neutral” and invest in gas and other fossil fuel-based energy production.