US Treasury pushing development banks for progress on next phase of reforms by April

The U.S. Treasury Department is pushing the World Bank and regional multilateral development banks to complete work on new rules for leveraging shareholder capital commitments to boost lending capacity by April 2024, a senior Treasury official said. Giving more value to callable capital — commitments by shareholders to supply additional resources in the event of severe financial problems — in the bank's balance sheets could unlock "significantly more financing" for developing countries, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been pushing for reforms to expand the World Bank's lending for a year, after an expert panel review concluded that the institutions, government shareholders and credit rating agencies were too timid about financial risks.