US Treasury head calls for IMF, World Bank reforms in climate change

ISTANBUL

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for reforms in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in dealing with climate change and poverty.

"Low-income countries have been particularly hard hit by the recent global shocks, and we saw an increase in global poverty for the first time in twenty years during the pandemic," she said during her speech at the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Morocco. "Climate change is no longer a distant threat but a present-day crisis."

"Common challenges such as climate change and fragility and conflict have had an outsized impact on the most vulnerable," she said, adding "Conditions should be focused on deep institutional reforms that are needed to build resilience to climate shocks."

Yellen noted that the IMF has a key role in helping low-income countries, strengthening their institutional frameworks, and building long-term resilience to global shocks.

She urged the IMF to adapt its policies "to adequately address the changed debt landscape and support restructurings."