Deepening divide between US, world
WASHINGTON The growing split between the US and the rest of the world spilled into the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington this week.
The US rejected efforts to expand the Bretton Woods Institutions activities and defended its attack on free trade pacts as part of US President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda.
The US also continued to stymie China's ambition to elevate its global role via an expanded stake in both the IMF and World Bank.
The Trump administration rejected a capital increase that the World Bank wants to expand its global anti-poverty mission.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also took aim at the IMF and World Bank bureaucracies, calling them inefficient and suggesting their staff are overpaid - a long-standing view among US conservative critics of both organisations.- AFP
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